Shadow of a Hero
by K. C. Trexler
Summary: A mysterious black hedgehog known only as Shadow has been awakened by Dr. Eggman. And with the military now chasing after Sonic instead of Shadow, the blue hero will have to find a way to prove his innocence while stopping Shadow and Eggman's plot to conquer Mobius. A Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation.
1. Chapter 1

Sonic the Hedgehog and all related official characters are copyrights of SEGA and Archie Comics, used without permission. All non-official characters are copyrighted by me. Please don't use without permission.

 **Author's Note** **:** This story takes place immediately following "The Dark Prophecy" and is an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. I will be posting a new chapter every few days or so. As always enjoy reading it and please provide constructive criticism as it aids in helping me improve my skills.

 **Shadow of a Hero**

 **Chapter 1**

August 23, 2323 21:02

"Intruder is in Sector 4-N, Security Gate 3! Repeat! Intruder is in Sector 4-N, Security Gate 3!" said a female voice over speakers all throughout the base. A small armored walker that resembled Eggman's hovercraft with a set of mechanical legs and a laser cannon attached on the back left side of the walker's body started marching through the freshly blasted open security door as Dr. Eggman laughed behind its controls. As soon as the walker was through the door, however, he happened upon the first robots to block his way since entering the base.

Several of the robots were humanoid in shape, their left hands replaced by laser cannons. Flying above the humanoid robots were several orb shaped ones sporting fins that went around their entire midsections. Each one sported a laser cannon on their undersides. Eggman didn't wait for the robots to make the first move. The walker's laser cannon opened up, rapidly taking aim and blasting each of the robots apart.

"Ha! That was entirely too easy!" laughed Eggman as the last robot was blown apart by the walker's weapon. The vehicle once again advanced deeper into the compound as Eggman headed in the direction of the base's most secured research facility located deep underground within the base.

* * *

Back at the base's command center, several dozen people were scrambling to keep track of what was going on. With what little information they had to go on, their ability to mount an effective defense of the base was proving difficult. One lone man, however, remained surprisingly calm despite the chaos going on around him.

The human was well past the normal age of retirement, his dyed brown hair hinting at a younger age but his wrinkles a dead giveaway that he was an older gentleman. Yet his dark green eyes held a fire behind them that still burned with a sense of duty accented by the commendations and medals adorning the red and blue sash that went around his upper body.

"Status report, Sergeant Natara. Where is the intruder headed?" asked the human, looking down at a young female human officer stationed at one of the computer consoles in the room. Her vibrant blue eyes still held with them the look of youthful enthusiasm, though at the moment they were filled more with a questioning look as she read over the data coming in.

"I'm not sure, Commander Korvak," said the woman, looking up from the console and back at the man. "They seem to be headed in the direction of the research facility at the center of the base." Hearing this, the commander's eyes went wide. This wasn't lost on Natara as she saw his reaction.

"Redouble our efforts to stop the intruder! They must not reach that facility!" said Korvak.

"Sir, I don't think we can stop them," said Natara. Korvak's face grimaced.

"Then it's time for drastic measures…Tell Captain Pathos to prepare to engage the intruder as soon as he can. If he spots a mobian hedgehog with the intruder, kill it on sight," said Korvak. Now it was Natara's turn to widen her eyes.

"Sir, do you really think it's necessary to use the B-3X Hot Shot walker to defend this facility?" asked Natara.

"If this intruder can lay waste to our smaller combat robots this easily, then we need to bring in the big guns to fight them," said Korvak.

"Very well, sir," said Natara, turning back to the console as she typed a command into the console. "The order's been sent."

"Good," said Korvak. But despite the order having been given, he was still disturbed. No one but himself and a select few of the military's highest ranking officers knew of the significance of what was currently being stored inside of the facility. How this intruder knew of its contents was worrying him. Realizing he'd have to confer with his fellow members of G.U.N.'s High Command about this turn of events, he turned and headed towards the command center's exit.

* * *

"I was hoping there would be a little more challenge breaking into this place, but so far it's been a bore. But I doubt their security will be anywhere near this lax the next time someone tries to break in," said Eggman to himself as he piloted his walker through the final corridor leading to the entrance to the underground facility. As he reached the end of the corridor, a massive reinforced security door barred his entrance into the facility.

"Well, I could run a decryption program to open this door, but where's the fun in that?" Eggman then lined up the walker perpendicular to the door, a hatch opening in the front midsection of the walker's body as energy started to gather in a laser lens embedded in the hatch. A smile spread across his face as the lens finished charging. The walker then fired a large beam of energy that slammed into the door, blasting open a large hole in it.

"Good to know it wasn't a waste building a smaller version of the Egg Cannon weapon for this walker," said Eggman. Urging the walker through the hole in the door, Eggman was astounded to find that the "facility" at the heart of the base was nothing of the sort. Rather it was a large room that housed but a single small cryo pod next to a rather large computer at the far side of the room.

"Interesting…I expected this 'Ultimate Life Form' to be bigger than something that could fit inside of a pod of that size," said Eggman as the walker crossed the room, coming to a stop a few yards away from the console. He then lowered the walker's body to the ground before dismounting the vehicle. Walking over to the console, he looked over the controls.

"Let's see…" he said as he began to enter commands into the console.

"Enter user data…Enter password…M-A-R-I-A," he said, entering the same five letter word that had given him access to the top secret files of Project Shadow that had led him to this very machine. The console then lit up as it accepted the password.

Grinning from ear to ear, Eggman then entered the command to open the pod connected to the console. A loud hissing noise started to sound from the pod as its seal was broken for the first time in nearly fifty years.

Thick clouds of carbon dioxide began to issue forth from pod, quickly obscuring it from Eggman's view as the cryo pod rapidly unfroze its contents. As the seconds ticked by and the cloud of gas began to dissipate, a figure lurking in the cloud started to become visible. Eggman's eyes instantly widened, realizing the figure looked all too familiar.

"Is that you Sonic? How in the world did you find out I was coming here!?" shouted Eggman angrily. But as the cloud finally disappeared, Eggman realized that it wasn't Sonic he was looking at, but rather another person altogether.

"Wait a second…You're not Sonic! Who are you?" While it was indeed a late teenage mobian hedgehog that was now standing next to the pod, it was most definitely not Sonic. This was evident by the fact that this hedgehog's fur wasn't blue, but rather jet black with a patch of white fur on his chest. The quills on the sides of his head curved up instead of down like Sonic's did.

Each of his quills sported a red stripe going straight through the top middle, his fiery red eyes staring at Eggman with a look that sent a chill through the human. In addition to the white with red trim air shoes he wore, gold bracelets and anklets adorned his look.

"My name is Shadow," said the hedgehog, crossing his arms over his chest. "I am in your debt for finally setting me free from that capsule. As such, I will grant you any one wish your heart desires." However, before anything else could be said, the remains of the security door that Eggman opened with his walker suddenly exploded in a shower of shrapnel.

"Now what?" asked Eggman, both him and Shadow turning to see what the commotion was about. As the smoke cleared, a two legged green and red walker equipped with shoulder mounted missile pods that towered over Eggman's own walker stepped through the entryway.

"Let me show you a small sample of what I am capable of doing by destroying this nuisance. Then we will continue our conversation," said Shadow as he began to walk in the direction of the giant walker. Eggman turned around to watch as the two enemies prepared to square off.

"Hot Shot to command. I've spotted the intruders. One of them is Dr. Eggman. Repeat. One is Dr. Eggman. The other contact is a mobian hedgehog. Engaging to kill as ordered," said Captain Pathos into his comm unit. Immediately he took aim at Shadow with his walker's main weapons. But before he could line up a shot, Shadow suddenly took off from his spot, skating across the room at a high speed thanks to the air shoes he was wearing.

Realizing he'd never acquire a target lock with the enemy moving at such a high speed, Pathos opted to forgo targeting and instead unleash a quarter of his missile payload all at once in the hedgehog's general direction. As the missiles fired, Shadow expertly dodged out of the way of each one as holes were blown open in the room's floor. Leaping high above the final missile and into the air, Shadow pulled his right hand just in front of his left shoulder as a ball of energy began to gather in his palm, quickly growing in size.

"Chaos Spear!" cried Shadow, flinging the ball of energy at the walker's left missile pod. The energy blast slammed into the pod, causing the pod to explode. Its remaining payload went off from the energy blast hitting it as the walker started to tip over. But before it could, engines on the underside of its feet fired. The walker then suddenly took to the air as its legs folded up underneath it.

Shadow's eyes narrowed as he landed on the ground, looking up at the flying walker as it took aim at him. Shadow shot from his spot once more, skating across the room towards the walker. In response, it unloaded all of its remaining missiles from the remaining pod at the charging hedgehog.

Most of them went wide, but one struck the ground less than a foot in front of Shadow, the explosion concealing the black hedgehog in smoke. Inside the walker, Pathos breathed a sigh of relief. He was sure that the explosion had caused a good amount of damage to the hedgehog if not having killed it outright.

But that relief was suddenly dashed as a whirling ball of black spines emerged from the cloud of smoke aimed right at the walker. Eggman's eyes widened in shock as he witnessed Shadow perform Sonic's signature spindash move. Until just now, he had never seen another mobian be capable of performing the move. Pathos immediately tried to move the walker out of the way, but his reaction time was too slow.

Shadow crashed through the left leg's connecting bracers, shredding it off the walker and causing it to go into an uncontrolled spiral towards the ground. Pathos closed his eyes and held on for dear life till the walker finally crashed to the ground, coming to a rest in a heap.

Pathos remained slumped in the cockpit, unconscious from a blow to the head he suffered when the walker crashed. With the threat of the walker now gone, Shadow turned back around and started walking back towards Eggman. He noticed the overweight human had a stunned look on his face.

"I take it you're impressed, human?" asked Shadow as he came to a stop a few feet away from Eggman.

"I…I'm speechless Shadow. I've only seen one other person able to move like that. And he certainly can't perform that energy blast move like you did. How did you do it?" asked Eggman.

"I am able to harness the chaos energy in the air around me, manipulating it to perform energy attacks such as the one you saw me perform. I have other unique abilities as well. However, they pale in comparison to what I am capable of doing with a Chaos Emerald's energy at my disposal," said Shadow. Looking over at Eggman's walker, a smile crossed his face before he looked back at the doctor.

"I can sense one is here. Perhaps in your own walker judging by the hole I saw blasted in the door before the military walker destroyed it." Eggman merely nodded in response to the inquiry.

"Then if you would be kind enough to hand it over, I will assist in getting the two of us to a place where we can continue our discussion without the threat of being interrupted again," said Shadow.

"Generally I don't hand over something as valuable as a Chaos Emerald without a very good reason. However, I am curious to see what you can do with one's power," said Eggman as he walked over to his walker, reaching into the cockpit as he retrieved the aqua Chaos Emerald from its housing. He then turned back to Shadow, tossing the gem into the black hedgehog's waiting hand.

"Very well. Then I shall show you another of my powers. If you would be so kind as to get back in your walker, I will get us out of this place," said Shadow as he walked over and placed his free hand on the walker. Eggman complied, climbing back into the vehicle. Once he was properly seated, Shadow closed his eyes and began to concentrate, searching out a certain aspect of the Chaos Emerald's energy field. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes as the emerald's glow began to intensify.

"Chaos Control!" cried Shadow, a flash of light bursting forth from both himself and the Chaos Emerald, the light engulfing Eggman's walker. Almost instantly the light vanished, both Shadow and Eggman having vanished along with it.

* * *

Nearly a hundred miles inland, deep inside of a large forest, a burst of light exploded out of thin air as Shadow and Eggman reappeared.

"What the heck did you just do!?" cried Eggman, taken completely off-guard by their new surroundings.

"I teleported us to an area far removed from that island," said Shadow as he lowered his hand off the walker. He then walked around to its front and turned to face Eggman. "Now then, I believe we were discussing your one desire before we were so rudely interrupted."

"I must say that I am very impressed with you, Shadow. My grandfather certainly wasn't exaggerating when he claimed that you were the ultimate life form," said Eggman. Hearing that caused Shadow's eyes to widen slightly, but only for a moment before his face returned to its stoic look.

"Interesting…You said Professor Gerald Robotnik was your grandfather? Does that make you one of his descendants?" asked Shadow, his own interest now caught with this turn of events.

"It does. I am Doctor Ivo Robotnik, now known as Doctor Eggman by the world," said Eggman.

"I suppose it is only fitting that my new master is descended from my creator," said Shadow.

"Master?" asked Eggman, looking at Shadow questioningly.

"Of course. I am in your debt for freeing me from that icy prison. And as I said before, I will help you achieve any desire your heart has," said Shadow. Hearing that brought a massive grin to Eggman's face.

"I have but one simple desire, Shadow. I wish to take over the world and create the ultimate empire to rule it all!" he cried.

"Then you are in luck, doctor. I have the perfect way for you to achieve your goals," said Shadow. He then turned and started walking away from Eggman, tossing the Chaos Emerald over his shoulder towards a surprised Eggman who barely managed to catch the gem.

"Meet me tomorrow night at exactly ten thirty in the evening aboard the space colony ARK. And bring that Chaos Emerald with you because we will need it," said Shadow.

"Meet you aboard ARK? And just what are you going to do in the meantime?" asked Eggman. Shadow came to a stop and looked back at Eggman.

"I could sense another Chaos Emerald just along the shoreline of where that island was at. I am going to go retrieve it tomorrow afternoon, then meet you aboard the ARK at the designated hour. For now, I am going to rest and recover my full strength for that task. Despite being frozen in a deep sleep for fifty years, my body needs natural sleep to recover fully from the weakening effects of the hibernation I've been in," said Shadow. He then started to skate away from Eggman at a high speed, leaving the doctor alone to ponder this turn of events.

August 24, 2323 2:34

Commander Korvak stood at the head of a somewhat large conference table. Around the table sat some of the highest ranking generals of the G.U.N. organization. Not all of them were present, but enough to discuss at length what had happened. Each of them looked nervous, as news of Eggman's escape with the black hedgehog they only knew of as Shadow was now the topic at hand.

"I think I speak for everyone here when I say we can't let news of Shadow's release get out," said Command Korvak. "The fact that Eggman knew about him disturbs me." He then placed both hands on the table and leaned on them as he looked back at the other humans.

"Nothing has ever been leaked about Project Shadow after…Well, after what happened aboard ARK all those decades ago," said Korvak. He then rose back up and turned to his left.

"But from what we've been able to gather from our computer records over the last few days, we found a breach into our mainframe databanks. When our technicians went over the data, they discovered that not only had our robot schematics been accessed, but a certain file had been downloaded and then deleted from our computer mainframe," said Korvak.

"Project Shadow's file…" said one of the generals, his voice filled with concern. "And how did the technicians not notice this file being missing from the mainframe?"

"We...never believed someone could hack into the mainframe. So...we didn't keep a constant watch over it," admitted another general, lowering his head. This caused the first general to just put his head into his hands in disbelief.

"Regardless of that, we believe Dr. Eggman was the hacker after tonight's attack and that he plans to use Shadow for some terrible purpose. The problem is we don't know what that purpose is," said Korvak as he turned back to face the table again. "But our biggest problem at the moment is how to cover up what happened here tonight. Several officers witnessed Shadow's fight with our walker through our security cameras. We need to make them believe Shadow was…someone else."

"What are you suggesting?" asked another general.

"We know for a fact that tomorrow Sonic Hedgehog will be arriving in Zephyr City to witness his friend Miles Prower receive the Medal of Valor from President Quinn," said Korvak.

"You can't be serious. Blaming the greatest hero of this world for tonight's events?" asked the first general, a stunned look on his face. Korvak sighed, then turned away from the others.

"Need I remind you of what happened fifty years ago? We were all there when the incident happened aboard the ARK. Sure we were low ranking soldiers at the time, but we committed horrific acts that day. All to sate the fears of our superiors…" said Korvak. The rest of the humans all lowered their heads at that reminder. Korvak then turned back around.

"If it is discovered that G.U.N. was responsible for one of the largest acts of terrorism in this planet's history, then at best our organization would be dismantled. And at worst, those of us that partook in the act will stand trial as traitors to this nation," said Korvak This caused murmurs to begin all around the table.

"But what happens when we capture Sonic? That plan falls completely apart once Shadow does something after that," said one of the generals.

"It's not ideal, I know. But it will buy us some time to try and discover Eggman's plans. I've already alerted our top operative of the situation and she agreed to assist in finding out what Eggman has planned for Shadow starting tomorrow," said Korvak.

"Why not start now?" asked another general. Korvak sighed before clasping his hands behind his back.

"Because, as you know, this agent always seems to get into trouble with her…hobby. If she didn't get excellent results with every mission we give her, I'd have left her to pay for her actions a long time ago," said Korvak.

"Who is she trying to get away from this time?" asked the first general.

"All she said was there was a crazed mobian that's been after her for nearly two weeks now," said Korvak.

"Two weeks? What kind of mobian is that dedicated to getting back a gem?" asked the second general.

"A persistent one apparently," said Korvak. "Still, she believes she has lost him, but wants to wait till morning to be sure. Now then, any suggestions on how we go about capturing Sonic?"

August 24, 2323 11:08

Nearly a hundred and fifty miles north of where Shadow had left Eggman behind, a massive desert stretched for miles in all directions. Normally the desolate landscape was home only to a few creatures and plants that could withstand the intense heat and super dry conditions. However, standing out in the desert sands next to a giant green gem were two mobians, one female and one male. And each one was yelling at the other.

"Just leave me alone you annoying pest! Haven't you chased me enough already?" shouted the female mobian, a white bat wearing a black jumpsuit with a purple, heart-shaped top. She also wore white gloves that went up to her elbows and a pair of white boots with purple trim. Her green eyes were filled with anger that was directed towards the other mobian that stood only a few meters away from her.

"Like I'd ever stop chasing after you, thief!" shouted the male mobian, a crimson echidna with a white crescent birth mark on his chest. He was wearing a pair of white gloves and a pair of green, yellow, and red shoes. His own anger filled green eyes were focused on the bat.

"You know well and good that you stole the Master Emerald from my island! And I'll be a human's uncle before I quit trying to get it back from you!" shouted Knuckles.

"Why is this 'Master Emerald' so important to you that you'd chase me across the entire continent just to get it back?" asked the bat.

"Because the Master Emerald contains an enormous amount of chaos energy. Enough to keep Floating Island aloft in the sky," said Knuckles. Here he closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "And I just recently found out it has the power to control the energy of the Chaos Emeralds, making it even more important than I used to think it was."

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" shouted the bat, causing Knuckles to open his eyes again, only to see that the Master Emerald was no longer on the ground. Rather, it was rising into the air towards none other than Eggman's hovercraft, a tractor beam drawing the emerald towards it.

"Well, well…I come looking for a Chaos Emerald and I happen upon something much more valuable," said Eggman. "I'll just take this with me if you don't mind. So long fools!" With that, he gunned the hovercraft's engines.

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Knuckles as he jumped right at the Master Emerald as it hung in midair. Pulling back a fist, he thrust it out as he reached the Master Emerald, striking the gemstone as hard as he could. Instantly the Master Emerald shattered into dozens of pieces that went flying off in all directions. As soon as Knuckles landed, the bat ran over and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Why in the world did you break my emerald you stupid idiot!?" she cried as she shook Knuckles hard.

"Let go of me you crazy bat!" shouted Knuckles, finally managing to squirm free of her grasp. "I did that to prevent Eggman from stealing it. Even if it's in pieces, I can restore it." Hearing Eggman's name caught the bat's attention, looking back up at the hovercraft as it started making its way towards the pyramid in the distance.

"So that's Dr. Eggman?" asked the bat.

"Yeah…And knowing him he's probably up to no good," said Knuckles as he watched Eggman head off towards the north. He then took in a deep breath, then gave a loud sigh. "But now, thanks to you, I have to find all those shards all over again just like I did nearly a month and a half ago…Just great…"

"Don't blame me. You're the one who broke it," said the bat. Knuckles frowned angrily as he raised a fist in the bat's direction.

"I wouldn't have had to break it if you didn't steal it from me in the first place!" he shouted. But the bat merely turned away from Knuckles and took to the air.

"Whatever, echidna boy. I've got more important things to do than sit around arguing with you," said the bat as she started flying off in the same direction Eggman had been heading. _Now that I have my objective in sight, best not to lose him,_ thought the bat as she began to follow at a fair distance after Eggman's hovercraft, leaving a fuming Knuckles behind.

"Curse that bat girl…" said Knuckles under his breath. "Guess it's time to see if I can sense where all those shards went flying off to." With that, Knuckles closed his eyes and started to feel the area around him, searching for signs of the Master Emerald's power. _I'll never understand why those shards scatter so far when the Master Emerald breaks_ …thought Knuckles to himself as he started heading southwest in the direction of the first shard he had sensed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

August 24th, 2323 13:19

"I don't see why we couldn't go up there with Tails," muttered Sonic, his face set in a frown as he, Sally, and Comet sat in the front and center of the numerous rows of people. The humans were all standing in front of a stage with a grand podium set in the middle as they waited for the medal ceremony to begin. Military personnel were everywhere, with armed guards situated around the entire perimeter of the stage. A couple more were on the stage and several others were surrounding the crowd.

The occasion was to start at twenty after one sharp. President Quinn of the United Nation of Mobius, which encompassed nearly all the human's territory aside from a few outlying collections of the population, was to award Tails with the Medal of Valor. It was the highest award that could be given by the human government to a citizen.

Sonic let his mind wander as the members of the press that surrounded the two mobians continued to chat away. Most were speaking concerns about trivial matters such as if the cameras were situated right or if one of their questions didn't sound too stupid. Thinking of the human president made him start going over in his head some of the areas that weren't part of the United Nation.

The first and most notable of them to come to mind was the kingdom of Soleanna on the far side of the continent. It was situated near the boarder between the northern and southern continents where a royalty was what governed the people. A smirk came to his face as he imagined a human in the same role that Sally was in before the coup happened.

"What got you out of your mood so fast?" asked Comet, breaking Sonic's wandering mind from its trance as he glanced over at the small violet chao.

"Oh nothing," said Sonic.

"Yeah, I'll bet," said Sally with a smirk of her own on her face as she drew both their attentions. "Wandering minds are those of dreamers, wishing to be far away from where they are."

"Do you always have to make a philosophical remark when you point out what I'm doing?" he asked, his smile dropping as a look of annoyance crossed his face. This only caused Sally's own smile to widen as she half closed her eyes.

"I do because I love how much it annoys you that I do that," she replied.

Suddenly, as if some magical switch had been hit, the crowd of humans all quickly took their seats and became as quiet as church mice. Sonic couldn't help but look behind him, amazed that people who thrived on always talking could go from a hundred miles an hour to zero in nothing flat. A nudge in his side from Sally cause him to look forward again, his eyes looking up at the stage as he spotted his best friend emerging from behind the curtain. Sonic noticed that the poor guy was shaking he was so nervous.

Tails looked down at the blue hedgehog. Sonic instantly gave him a thumbs up in response. Seeing his best friend give him a vote of confidence, Tails nodded as he got his emotions back under control, his shaking subsiding. A few seconds later, a tall man dressed in a blue suit walked out from behind the curtain. He looked to be in his early fifties by the look of it, his short cut brown hair having a hint of gray starting to show. His brown eyes held the look of a man wise beyond his years. The man then walked up behind the podium, a stoic look on his face as Sonic realized this was the human president.

"My fellow people...Today, we are here to honor a young man who stared defiantly into the face death...and saved Emerald City from a great threat. First, in the form of a missile...and then...in the form of the nefarious Dr. Eggman himself," said Quinn.

"Even though Emerald City was ultimately destroyed by a monstrous water creature, his actions nevertheless should be remembered for their heroism and bravery," said Quinn. Hethen motioned to an aid to bring over a case that they were holding up. As the aid arrived next to the podium, Quinn took from the case a gold medal that bore the silver star of the United Nation of Mobius before turning to face Tails.

"Mr. Miles Prower. On behalf of all the people of this human nation, I proudly present to you...the Medal of Valor," said Quinn, lowering himself down and slipping the medal around Tails neck. Once in place, the president reached out to shake Tails hand, who gladly reached up and accepted it.

"Thank you very much Mr. President," said Tails, grinning from ear to ear as applause sounded from the crowd. This continued for about ten seconds before it calmed back down.

"No my young friend...thank you. May we all learn a lesson from you," said Quinn as he stood back up. "Anyone can make a difference, whether it be man, woman, or child." He then motioned to the crowd.

"After discussing the matter with Mr. Prower prior to this engagement, he will be willing to answer questions provided they aren't too personal. Remember that he can turn down anyone's questions if he feels they are too invasive," said Quinn.

"That'd be our cue Sal," said Sonic as he got up from his seat, Sally following suit.

"How long do you think they'll ask questions?" asked Sally as he and Sonic started walking towards the back of the crowd.

"No idea, but I'd like to go for a run in the meantime," said Sonic.

"You do that. I'll go check in with Nicole back at the hotel. I feel bad about leaving her behind, but the military said no computer devices allowed, even sentient ones," said Sally. As the trio moved past the last row of the media, they were about to pass by two of the armed guards before both of them readied their weapons and aimed them at them.

"Whoa there guys! Easy on the pointing with those things," said Sonic as the three of them came to a stop.

"What's going on?" asked Sally.

"Are you Sonic Hedgehog?" asked the guard on the left.

"Who wants to know?" asked Sonic.

"Commander Korvak of G.U.N. wants to know, you smart alack," said the right guard. Sonic looked over at Sally and Comet, a look of confusion washing over him.

"What's these guys' deal?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," said Sally, retuning her attention to the guards. "Officer, what do you want with Sonic?"

"So it is him," said the first guard as he reached for the handcuffs on his belt. "We have orders to bring him in for questioning."

"For what?" asked Sonic, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"For assisting Dr. Eggman in an attack on Prison Island, as well as severely injuring Captain James C. Pathos," said the second guard.

"For what!?" cried Sonic and Sally together. Suddenly all attention of the press that had been focused on Tails switched to the scene unfolding behind them as camera flashes started to fire off in rapid succession.

"You can't be serious, can you?" asked Sally, her face full of fear of what was happening.

"Sorry Princess, but your little friend here was caught on our surveillance cameras assisting Dr. Eggman inside of the Prison Island military base," said the first guard.

"There must be some mistake!" cried Sally, but Sonic's only reaction was to give a huff and fold his hands behind his head.

"Surveillance is never perfect. A lot of mobian hedgehogs look somewhat similar to me," said Sonic.

"True, but we saw the suspect do that little spinning ball trick you use to attack with. That's something we've never seen any other mobian be able to imitate. Not to mention this hedgehog was moving around at extremely high speeds," said the first guard. At his, Sonic lowered his hands, then gave a shrug.

"Alright. If you think it was me, take me in. I'll talk with this 'Commander' of yours myself," said Sonic as he took a step in their direction. Sally instantly grabbed Sonic by the arm, stopping him.

"You are _not_ turning yourself in for something you didn't do!" said Sally. Sonic only smiled in response.

"Look Sal. I know I'm innocent and if this imposter is really out there, he'll do something else to show himself. When that happens, they'll let me go free as a bird," said Sonic as the guard cuffed him.

"How can you be taking this so lightly!?" cried Sally as the guards started walking away with him.

"It won't help to get hysterical over this," said Comet, looking up at Sally from within the ground squirrel's arms. Realizing she had let the situation completely deprive her of her composure, she quietly regained it as the guards put Sonic into a helicopter with two other guards in it, closing the door to the chopper as it started taking off into the sky.

"What's going on Sally?" asked Tails as he ran up to her.

"I honestly have no idea Tails, but we're going to get to the bottom of this one way or another," said Sally as they watched the chopper start to fly off into the distance headed in a southerly direction.

August 24, 2323 13:23

 _Same old story, day in and day out,_ thought Cindy Walker, the only teller currently at the set of windows that lined the back of the First National Bank of Zephyr City. The tall brunette with the calm blue eyes both loved and hated the fact that she was the most senior teller at the bank. Loved it because she was paid the most out of all the tellers. But hated it because she was usually left to hang out to dry by herself by her boss on slow days like today because she was the most "experienced" one at the job.

 _Ring!_ The sound of the door's bell that sounded whenever a customer entered or left the establishment caught her attention, realizing she had let her mind wander slightly. But as she looked at the black mobian hedgehog with red stripes on his quills that had just entered the bank, she instantly became suspicious of him. It wasn't the fact that he was a mobian that set off her instincts, but rather the look in the black hedgehog's red eyes that was now making his way towards her window. Trying not to let first impressions ruin her professionalism, she waited calmly till he had walked up to the window.

"Are you here to deposit or withdrawal, sir?" she asked him. Hearing this question, the hedgehog smiled slightly.

"A withdrawal, if you don't mind," said the hedgehog. Seeing him smile as he answered sent a chill down Cindy's spine. But keeping her cool, she reached her hands to the keyboard set in front of her as she gave her next question.

"What's your account number, sir?" she asked him.

"I'm afraid I don't have one," said the hedgehog, his eyes never leaving Cindy's gaze. Realizing now that the mobian was here to rob the bank, she lowered her hand below the desk slightly and tripped the silent alarm for the bank.

"Well, sir. Normally we don't allow unauthorized withdrawals without an account number," said Cindy, playing dumb and praying that the security guards for the bank were actually paying attention instead of playing games on their phones again like she had caught them doing numerous times when she was in the back on break.

"Well unfortunately you have a Chaos Emerald stored in that vault behind you," said the hedgehog, pointing to the giant vault behind the teller's back.

"What's a Chaos Emerald?" asked Cindy, not having a clue what the hedgehog was talking about. She then suddenly recalled her boss taking a strange glowing purple gemstone from a customer for safe keepings a couple of weeks ago and putting it into the vault. Knowing now what the hedgehog was after however didn't make up for the fact that the guards still hadn't shown up. Then, almost as if on cue, two armed guards exited from one of the side rooms, weapons drawn.

"Alright buddy, freeze right there like a good little hedgehog and we won't have to use these," said the first, slightly overweight guard as he knelt to the ground to get a better position. The other one, a tall and skinny black man, stepped behind his partner to make sure all angles were covered. A frown replaced the hedgehog's smile as he glared up at Cindy in a way that said "big mistake" before turning to face the two guards.

"I'd suggest walking away before I get angry," said the black hedgehog.

"Like that's gonna happen, pal," said the tall guard.

"Yeah. You don't scare us," said the overweight guard.

"Well, now that's too bad," said the hedgehog as he started walking in their direction. "Because you really should be scared of me." Both guards started to get nervous as he approached.

"I said stay right there!" cried the overweight guard. Suddenly, the hedgehog shot forward as he activated his jet sneakers, reaching both guards before they could react as he tackled them head on. Both guards were knocked to the ground as each of their guns fell out of their hands onto the floor. Scrambling to get to their feet and their weapons, the overweight guard was the hedgehog's first victim as the guard was kicked hard enough in the head to knock him out. The first guard downed, the hedgehog turned his attention to the second guard as he reached for his gun. But as soon as the human had grasped the weapon, it was kicked sharply from his hand. The guard cried out in pain from the weapon being violently stripped from him.

"Are we scared yet?" asked the hedgehog, not waiting for an answer before landing a solid punch to the guard's face, knocking him out as well.

"Pathetic humans..." he whispered to himself before turning back to face the teller desk. "My patience has been worn out human woman! I demand you retrieve the Chaos Emerald from that vault now. Otherwise, I will kill these two poor excuses for guards!" The hedgehog then held his right palm out towards the two guards, a ball of glowing energy starting to form in it. Knowing that she was out of time for the actual police to show up and not really sure there was anything they could do even if they were actually here, she nodded as she turned to go back to the vault.

"Of course. I'll be as quick as I can," said Cindy as she ran back to the vault's controls, entering her personal code that would unlock the vault. Not wasting any time, she ran to the back and retrieved the gem from the case it was locked in. She quickly returned to the teller counter where the black hedgehog waited impatiently with a scowl on his face.

"Is this what you meant?" she asked him as she held up the gem for him to see, the hedgehog's scowl quickly turning to a smile again.

"Yes it is. Now if you'd be so kind as to hand it over, I'll be on my way," said the hedgehog. Not hesitating in the least, Cindy handed over the emerald to the hedgehog. _Ah...another Chaos Emerald...Feels like only yesterday I was holding the green one in my hands like I'm holding the violet one today,_ thought Shadow as he started to walk out of the bank. _I still have several hours before I'm to meet the doctor. Might as well steal a bite to eat and lay low here until then._

As Shadow reached the doors leading from the bank, his ears caught the sound of rapidly approaching sirens. Knowing now the true reason for the woman's stalling tactics, Shadow only smirked as he walked out of the bank and out into the street. Nearly half a dozen police cars pulled up with sirens blaring. Officers quickly exited their squad cars, moving to surround Shadow. As he watched the scene unfolding, however, his mind recalled a somewhat similar event. An event that had plagued the nightmares he had dreamed for nearly the last fifty years inside his cryo pod inside Prison Island's base.

* * *

Run...That's all Shadow knew they had to keep doing. If the humans that had come for them caught them, it was all over. He continued running, holding the hand of an early teenage girl dressed in a blue gown with long blond hair and deep blue eyes in his right hand. He wanted to urge the girl to run faster, but knew that she didn't have the strength to do so.

"Why...are they...doing this...Shadow? What did...we ever do...to them?" asked the girl between her labored breathing as the two kept running from the cries of people dying to gunfire behind them.

"I have no idea, but we have to get to the escape pods before they find us," said Shadow as he led the girl down the corridor leading to the emergency escape pods room. Outside the corridor's windows was a view of the planet below that the two had enjoyed every night before they had gone to bed.

"I see the primary target!" they heard a man call out from behind them. Knowing now that they had been spotted, Shadow knew discretion was a lost cause as he stopped the two of them. Quickly scooping the girl up in his arms, he turned back down the corridor and activated his jet sneakers, skating down the corridor as fast as he could.

The sounds of gunfire faded behind him as he reached the end of the corridor, pressing the release for the door that was now in front of them. The door hissed as it instantly rose up into the ceiling. The two made their way inside where several escape pods lined the wall to the left of the entrance.

"Looks like we made it safely," said Shadow as he ran over to the controls. He started to reach for them before he suddenly realized that none of the ARK's staff, including Professor Gerald, had ever shown him how to use the escape pod controls. _Probably never thought I'd have to use them,_ thought Shadow, looking back at the girl with him with a look on his face reflected his distress.

"I'm sorry, Maria. I don't have any idea how to work these controls," said Shadow. The girl instantly ran over as fast as she could to the controls and began typing commands furiously into the console.

"It's okay Shadow. My grandfather showed me how to use them, just incase," said the girl. She then reached a hand up and pointed to the first pod on the left of the wall. "Hurry up and get into the first pod. I'll set it to launch you, then set up mine and be right behind you in the next one." Hesitation gripped Shadow at hearing this plan of action.

"Are you sure?" he asked her. A warm smile crossed the girl's face as she looked over at Shadow.

"Trust me Shadow," said Maria. Shadow hesitated a few more seconds before nodding his head. Running over to the pod and climbing into it, the door closed behind him with a command from Maria. Shadow watched as Maria entered in the command to automatically launch the pod in forty five seconds. But as soon as she entered the command, a gunshot rang out from beyond the doorway. Maria instantly lurched forward as she collapsed onto the console.

"Maria!" shouted Shadow from within his pod, seeing the whole thing through the viewing window. He watched as despite the pain that now gripped her Maria quickly pressed the button that instantly sealed the door to the room. This was all she could muster before she collapsed to her knees.

"No! Maria!" shouted Shadow as he pounded his fists on the door. Knowing he had to get back to her, Shadow closed his eyes and tried to draw in enough chaos energy to perform Chaos Control. But try as he might, he couldn't draw upon anywhere near enough to activate it. His eyes suddenly shot open with tears in them as he realized why he couldn't do it.

The pod was designed to block all sorts of energy from harming the individual inside the pod, which meant he couldn't draw on any energy outside of the pod and there was too little inside with him to use Chaos Control. He would need a Chaos Emerald to warp back outside to reach her. He was about to look down to the floor of the pod in despair before a voice called out to him.

"Maria!" cried Shadow as he desperately tried to get the pod open again.

"Shadow...Promise me something..." she said as loud as she could with her strength draining away as fast as the blood from her gunshot wound to the back was bleeding.

"Anything!" said Shadow.

* * *

Shadow opened his eyes again, taking in the officers that now aimed their weapons at him, much like the humans that had invaded ARK had done in the past. As he saw them, his smirk quickly turned into a frown. _I can't remember what I promised you, but I know what must be done. I will avenge your death if its the last thing I do,_ thought Shadow as he raised his right hand against his left shoulder as Cindy watched the scene unfolding outside the bank from within it.

Without saying a word, Shadow gathered energy in his right hand for a few seconds before flinging the energy ball at the bank's entrance. The officers could only watch as the ball crashed into the outcropping over the entrance to the bank. This set off a good sized explosion that engulfed the bank's entrance as the overhang crashed to the ground. This left the entrance blocked from the outside.

"That's it! Take him down!" shouted one of the officers as they all started to aim their guns back towards Shadow. But when their gaze reached the area of the street he had been standing at, he was no longer there.

August 24th, 2323 13:27

Sonic sat quietly as the helicopter he had been put in continued its trek over Zephyr City, neither one of the guards having said a word since they had left. The one on the left was in his mid thirties, with short cut brown hair and a thick mustache with brown eyes dressed in a more decorated uniform bearing the stripes that denoted him as a sergeant. The one of the right was a much younger man with short blond hair and green eyes wearing a uniform with the stripes of a private.

"I still can't believe its really you..." said the private, finally breaking the nearly five minutes of silence since they'd left.

"Want an autograph or something when we land?" asked Sonic with a smile.

"Private, don't talk to the prisoner," said the sergeant, the private quickly shutting his mouth.

"Aw give the kid a break. Isn't everyday he's in the presence of someone like me," said Sonic.

"You think you're real cute, don't you blue boy?" asked the sergeant. He then looked up at the private. "Son, go up to the cockpit. I want a little alone time with this scum."

"But sir, our orders were to both guard-" started the private.

"That is _my_ direct order, Private Hemming. Now do it or I'll write you up when we get back for disobeying a superior officer," said the sergeant. Not wasting anymore time, the private quickly left the passenger compartment. As soon as he was beyond the doorway, the sergeant quickly shut the door behind him.

"You didn't have to be so mean with him," said Sonic, feeling sorry for the way the young man had been treated.

"Shut up, rodent!" hissed the sergeant. This brought a frown to Sonic's face. "Do you know who James Pathos is?"

"Never met the man, but I understand he was attacked by someone last night," said Sonic.

"Before I tell you who he is, let me formally introduce myself to you. I am Sergeant Kevin Gainly of the military organization G.U.N.," said the sergeant.

"A pleasure," said Sonic, nodding to him.

"The 'pleasure' is all yours," said Kevin as he frowned at Sonic. "Now then...James...He's a brilliant man. Served a distinguished career as one of G.U.N.'s top ace fighter pilots. Just a month ago he was named the pilot for our most heavily armed walker unit known as 'Hot Shot'."

"Sounds like a good man to me," said Sonic, not seeing where this was going. Deep down though, he started to get a bad feeling about something. Why had the sergeant ordered the private away, then closed the door behind him? Pushing it to the back of his mind, he listened as Kevin continued.

"He's a great man. And to me...an even greater friend..." said Kevin as he looked down at the floor, his face still as stern as it had been since they had taken off. "When I joined G.U.N., I thought I was invincible. And for a while, it seemed like I was...Till the day a car accident took my mother and father from me."

"I'm sorry..." said Sonic softly, looking down at the floor himself.

"I fell into depression. I cut off contact with my friends outside the military and barely spoke to anyone inside. I was to the point where suicidal thoughts had begun to cement themselves in my head..." said Kevin.

"You know that's never the answer, right?" asked Sonic.

"It took my commanding officer to save me from myself. He helped me regain control of my depression. I became more social on base, reconnected with my old friends, and even started dating a little," said Kevin.

"Seems like your commanding officer saved you," said Sonic.

"He did..." said Kevin as he looked back up at Sonic, his face still set in its stern look. "I, however, couldn't do the same for him...In one instant, he was severely hurt in the line of duty by a person I could never forgive. " It was at this moment Sonic felt a ball of ice form in his stomach.

"Pathos is your commanding officer, isn't he?" asked Sonic, keeping an eye on Kevin's hands.

"He is. And you nearly killed him you motherless scumbag. The doctors say he'll recover, but it'll take months," said Kevin angrily.

"Don't do this Kevin," said Sonic as he stood up. "I can assure you with one hundred percent certainty that I wasn't even on Prison Island last night."

"I don't believe you. No other hedgehog can do the kinds of things you can do, and I saw the video for myself," said Kevin. "I may not have been able to save James from you, but I sure as heck will make sure you pay for injuring him." Kevin then started reaching for his nightstick. Seeing this, Sonic wasn't about to wait to see if he could talk his way out of the situation anymore.

Leaping forward, he head butted Kevin in the chest, slamming him against the door. He then performed a back flip that caused him to kick Kevin in the chin, knocking him out as the sergeant slumped to the floor. Knowing he couldn't stay in the copter anymore for fear Kevin wasn't the only person in the G.U.N. organization that would try to severely hurt him if not try to kill him, he started rifling through Kevin's pockets. He quickly pulled the key to his cuffs from one of them. As he started to undo his cuffs, the door to the cockpit opened as Private Hemming looked out into the passenger compartment.

"What did you do to Sergeant Gainly!?" cried Hemming, not believing what he was watching. He started to reach for his sidearm when he heard the click of the cuffs coming undone.

"Don't blame me, kid," said Sonic as he stood back up, now cuff free. "Your friend here was gonna attack me. I defended myself."

"But why would he do that?" asked Hemming.

"Ask him yourself when he wakes up," said Sonic as he walked over to the door of the copter, opening it as the wind from outside whipped around them.

"Private! What in the world is going on back there!?" shouted the pilot. Sonic looked back at Hemming with a smile on his face.

"Tell your Commander if he wants me, he'll have to catch me," said Sonic.

"Don't do this Sonic. You'll only make matters worse," said Hemming.

"Sorry kid. I can't take the chance that Kevin here was the only one that wants to take a shot at me. But tell your commander I promise to find this faker that's pretending to be me and bring him in myself. Till then, catch ya on the flip side!" cried Sonic before leaping out of the copter, falling towards the city below as the pilot radioed back what was going on to his commanding officers. As soon as Sonic touched the streets below, he was off like a shot as he raced down the slanted street and away from the copter flying above him.

"Alright...it's a sure bet that they'll expect me to go back to our hotel or try and join up with Sally and Tails, so avoid that at all costs for now," said Sonic to himself as he came to a stop next to an electronics store. Normally TVs in a store front window wouldn't catch his eye, but it was the news footage that was being shown on the TVs that had caused him to stop.

"As you can see from this video shot by police dash cams just moments ago, the suspect that robbed the First National Bank of Zephyr City appears to be none other than the world renowned hero, Sonic Hedgehog," said the lady newscaster as the video showed a hedgehog blasting the entrance of the bank before taking off down the street at an extremely high speed. It was so fast that the camera only caught a blur of the fleeing suspect.

"The suspect was seen blasting the entrance of the establishment before taking off at a very high speed down the street and around another block. Thankfully everyone involved only suffered minor injuries. During the robbery, the only thing that was stolen was a large purple gemstone," said the reporter.

"There must've been a Chaos Emerald being kept there by someone. And that faker stole it pretending to be me," said Sonic as he started walking away from the store, crossing his arms over his chest and bowing his head.

"But if that's the case, then this creep might still be in the city limits since it just happened. I just hope I can find him before he skips town on me," said Sonic. With that, he took off with a gust of wind as he began to search for the mysterious hedgehog that people had mistaken him for.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

August 24, 2323 13:32

"I'm sorry we had to end the press conference so soon, my friends. My security wouldn't stand for me to be out in the open with your friend on the loose," said President Quinn as he looked across his private limousine at his two guests.

"I understand, but you don't seriously think Sonic's working with Eggman, do you?" asked Sally from her seat across from the president. Tails sat beside her, his face full of worry for his best friend.

"I don't," said Quinn, his face becoming stoic. "No...I believe something else is going on. Something my top military officials don't want me or anyone else to know about. And they're using Sonic to help cover it up."

"What makes you think that, Mr. President?" asked Tails, his curiosity aroused.

"I have two undercover agents working for me inside of G.U.N.. They have already reported that the top leader of G.U.N. has been acting strangely ever since the attack on Prison Island by Eggman last night. Now my field operative has been charged with learning Eggman's plans and to also recover something called 'Project Shadow' from the doctor as well," said Quinn.

"What's Project Shadow"? asked Sally. The president just shook his head at the question.

"None of my staff has even heard of it. Or at least they won't acknowledge its existence with me," said Quinn. "Yet Commander Korvak is going to great lengths to recover this project from Eggman's hands. If he's sending my double agent on such a dangerous assignment, it only makes me think it is something extremely dangerous to this world."

"I'll bet Nicole could hack into Prison Island's mainframe and find out what this project is," said Tails. looking over at Sally.

"I have no doubt she can Tails, but that would be breaking the law and would turn the human nation against us," said Sally, glancing back at Tails. Hearing this comment, the president's left eyebrow arched.

"So you honestly think this person of yours can successfully hack into the most secure mainframe on the planet and find out what's truly going on?" asked Quinn.

"Given enough time, I'm sure she can. But why do you ask?" asked Sally, returning her attention to the human president.

"I can't give you the authority to do so, however..." said Quinn as he looked at the floor of the limo. "I can't use my people to find out what's going on without raising an alarm with Korvak. But if someone outside my organization was to do it, then it wouldn't blow my operatives' cover."

"But what if we're caught?" asked Tails.

"Then unfortunately there'll be nothing I can do. At best you'll live the rest of your lives in a maximum security prison," said Quinn, looking back up at the two mobians.

"Not very reassuring, but what choice do we have?" said Sally as she lowered her head a little. "Someone's impersonating Sonic and if this someone is a person the military wants to keep a secret, then we have to discover who this person really is and what ties he has to the military."

Less than ten seconds later, the limo came to a stop outside of a large hotel on the south side of the city. A small parking lot was off to the side where the Tornado now rested in a few of the parking spaces, Tails having landed it there using its new Cyclone walker mode since there hadn't been any nearby airports to land the plane in its flight mode.

"Here's your stop," said Quinn as he motioned to the door of the limo. "I wish you luck in your ventures and you have my contact information if you should find something."

"Thank you, Mr. President," said Sally as she opened the door and stepped out, Tails following after her. Closing the door, the two watched as the limo started to drive off.

"So...do you think we should have Nicole take a crack at the most heavily guarded system on the planet?" asked Tails, looking up at Sally.

"My gut tells me we have to, Tails. We just have to hope Nicole can be discreet while she does her hacking so she isn't noticed," said Sally as the two of them turned and walked into the hotel's lobby. As they arrived back in their room, the sight that greeted them was one they still weren't quite used to. Nicole was projecting her lynx holo image onto one of the large beds, her eyes locked with the TV screen. Noticing that she hadn't heard the opening of the door, Sally gave a small cough.

"Oh Sally, I didn't hear you two come in," said Nicole as she turned her gaze to her two friends.

"What are you watching?" asked Tails as he and Sally walked into the room.

"Something called a 'soap opera'. It's so awkward in both dialogue and acting, however...I'm intrigued by it nonetheless," said Nicole as she returned her attention to the screen. It was promptly shut off as Sally hit the power button on the remote sitting on the bed.

"Hey!" cried Nicole, an angry look crossing her face as she glared at the ground squirrel.

"Sorry, but we don't have time for TV shows right now," said Sally. Sensing something major was going on, Nicole's gaze softened.

"Why? What's going on?" asked Nicole. Sally and Tails then filled her in about what had been going on in the last fifteen minutes.

"So I was right," said Nicole after hearing of the recent events. "I knew that hedgehog that robbed the bank couldn't have been Sonic."

"Wait a second. What bank robbery?" asked Tails.

"I'll show you. I recorded it just in case," said Nicole. Her image flickered for a second before the news report that had just been telecast appeared in her place. Tails and Sally watched as a hedgehog set off an explosion before taking off down the street at an incredible speed.

"Well, whoever that was, I can see why they mistook him for Sonic," said Sally.

"I agree. I've never seen another hedgehog able to move that fast aside from Sonic," said Tails. He then noticed something down in the corner of the screen. "Wait a second...That time on the dash camera. It's _before_ Sonic was reported to have escaped from the military chopper he was in." The image of the news report flickered before Nicole's image reappeared in its place.

"Then the president was right," said Sally as he face turned into a frown. "Something else is going on here and we need to find out what."

"How are we going to do that?" asked Nicole.

"How good do you think your hacking skills are?" asked Sally.

"Do you honestly have to ask me that question?" asked Nicole, looking a little insulted by the question.

"Didn't think so, but just so you know this won't be as easy as cracking Eggman's encryptions. You're going after the heaviest encrypted system on the planet," said Sally.

"You can't mean the Prison Island computer mainframe, can you?" asked Nicole, surprise evident on her face.

"You got it," said Sally. "You think you can do it?" Nicole looked a little stunned, then slowly nodded.

"Yes...I should be able to, but you're right. It won't be like the cakewalks Eggman's pitiful security is," said Nicole, looking down and away from them.

"I know you can do it Nicole. You're the smartest AI on the planet. No computer security has anything on you," said Tails. Nicole could only smile after hearing the vote of confidence.

"You're right, Tails. I'll get started immediately. What is it I'm looking for?" asked Nicole as she walked back over to the table where her physical self was resting.

"Anything to do with something called Project Shadow. Both us and the president think that if there are any answers as to why G.U.N. is after Sonic it'll be found there," said Sally.

"Project Shadow...This should be interesting to say the least," said Nicole as she turned back around to face them. "I'll have to disengage my holographic self in order to work at peak effectiveness. I'll let you know when I find something." With that, her image flickered a few times before disappearing.

"Good luck," whispered Sally.

August 24, 2323 22:16

"Man...All day I've been dodging the military in this town and I haven't seen hide nor hair of that imposter," said Sonic as he came to a stop in the middle of a large parking lot outside of a grocery store. The lot was almost vacant, the store having closed over an hour earlier with only a few of the store's employees cars remain.

"This game of hide and seek is getting old fast. For all I know that guy already left the city a long time ago," said Sonic to himself. He was about to take off again when a loud clang of metal hitting asphalt caught his attention. Looking behind him, he saw that the thing that had made the noise was a walker that was nearly five times taller than he was. It was teal in color, with red and yellow accents over its hull. A hull mounted assault cannon was attached underneath its chin and attached to its head were two missile bays. However, compared to the Hot Shot walker, it was only carrying about half the payload.

"Sonic Hedgehog. This is your last chance to come peacefully. Resist and we will use force to bring you in," said the person piloting the walker over its intercom.

"So one of you finally managed to catch up to me, eh?" asked Sonic, turning around to fully face the walker. "Guess I couldn't avoid you guys forever staying here. But if you really want to take me in, you'll have to beat me first."

"Are you threatening me, hedgehog?" asked the pilot.

"Hey. I'm not the one aiming a walker full of guns at someone, am I?" asked Sonic, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'll tell you right now though you won't win if you engage me. Compared to Eggman's mechs, this thing's nothing but a little toy."

"So you won't surrender?" asked the pilot. Sonic's only reply was a simple shaking of his head. "Alright. I gave you a chance to come quietly. Now we'll do this the hard way." The walker suddenly lifted off the ground as it engaged its thrusters, its legs folding up underneath its cockpit. It then started to move rapidly in Sonic's direction, the assault cannon opening up once it had a lock-on. But Sonic merely smirked before zipping out of the way of the cannon's fire as the walker passed by harmlessly overhead.

"Come on! You said we'd do this the hard way, but I've barely done anything yet," said Sonic as he turned around to face the walker as it reoriented itself to face the blue hedgehog again. This time the missile bays on the sides of the cockpit opened up. Each one carrying nearly two dozen small missiles. But this only cause Sonic's smirk to turn into a full fledged grin.

 _Oh this is too easy,_ he thought as half the payload of missiles fired from the bays. Sonic took off in the opposite direction, the heat seeking missiles following after him. He then raced up the side of the store well ahead of the missiles, each one turning upwards to follow after him. Sonic waited till the last possible moment, then jumped as far away from the building's roof as he could. The missiles just barely missed contact with the roof of the building as they turned to track him. The pilot could only watch from his vantage point as Sonic's jump found him falling right at the walker, the speedy hedgehog landing on top of it with perfect form.

"What do you think you're doing!?" cried the pilot, looking up at Sonic through the cockpit window.

"I suggest abandoning ship," said Sonic as he looked down at the pilot. "I'll give those missiles twelve seconds before they make a bee line for me and hit this walker." Realizing that Sonic was serious, the pilot quickly landed the walker and opened the cockpit hatch. He jumped out and ran away from the walker as fast as he could as the heat seeking missiles bared down at Sonic's position atop the walker. Sonic glanced over at the human, seeing that he might not have enough time to escape the explosions of the missiles when they struck.

 _Humans are too slow,_ he thought as he returned his gaze to the missiles, seeing they were only a couple of seconds from hitting. Less than a second before they hit, Sonic sped down off the walker. He scooped up the human in his arms as the missiles contacted the walker. This set off a chain reaction with the missiles still inside the firing bays as the whole upper half of the walker exploded in a shower of molten slag. The walker wobbled a couple of seconds before it toppled to the ground.

"Are you crazy!?" shouted the human as he quickly got out of Sonic's arms.

"What? You're the one that started the fight with me in the first place," said Sonic, frowning as he watched the human run away. Suddenly, Sonic heard a soft clapping coming from behind him back in the direction of the walker. Turning around, he came face to face with a black hedgehog with red striped quills and glaring red eyes that now stood in front of the walker.

"I must say I'm impressed. Using that walker's own weapons against it was a rather ingenious maneuver," said the hedgehog as he stopped clapping, reaching down to pick up the glowing purple object next to him.

"Just who are you supposed to be?" asked Sonic. Suddenly, he realized what it was the black hedgehog was holding. "Hey! That's the Chaos Emerald that was stolen from the bank earlier today!"

"Indeed it is. And this is where it will all start. With a jewel that contains the ultimate power," said the black hedgehog, holding the Chaos Emerald up in his right palm.

"Now I know who you are. You're the hedgehog that helped Eggman last night and caused the military to try and hunt me down," said Sonic, giving a frown. "And then you stole that emerald pretending to be me as well."

"I don't have to pretend to be you, blue hedgehog. I'm much better than you'll ever be," said the black hedgehog as he gave a smirk.

"Ha!" cried Sonic, tensing up. "I saw you run away from the bank on that video footage. You're pretty fast, I'll give you that much. But if that's as fast as you can run, you're a long way off from being better than me." This only caused the black hedgehog's smirk to widen.

"Well then, if you think you are better than me, why don't you show me? I'll bet you won't lay a finger on me," said the black hedgehog.

"We'll see if you can say that after I catch you and turn you over to the military," said Sonic, not seeing that the Chaos Emerald in the black hedgehog's hand was beginning to glow brighter. Sonic suddenly shot from his spot at half of his maximum speed, preparing to land a solid punch to the hedgehog's face when he met him.

"Chaos Control!" cried the black hedgehog, a flash of light erupting around him before he disappeared. Sonic skidded to a stop as he realized he'd lost track of the black hedgehog.

"Where the heck did he go!?" cried Sonic. A fit of laughter caught his attention, drawing his eyes to look up at the roof of the store. He saw that the black hedgehog was now standing there, waving a finger down at him.

"Ah ah ah...You'll have to be much quicker than that to catch me," said the black hedgehog. Sonic could only look up at the black hedgehog in amazement. _I didn't even see him move at all!_ thought Sonic. But then he recalled the flash of light and it suddenly hit him.

"Hey! That's a dirty trick! You're somehow using the Chaos Emerald to teleport yourself, aren't you?" asked Sonic.

"Well now, you're more observant than I'd have given you credit for, blue hedgehog," said the black hedgehog.

"Just who the heck are you?" asked Sonic.

"Very well. I suppose telling you who I am wouldn't hurt anything," said the hedgehog, tossing the Chaos Emerald back and forth between his hands. "My name is Shadow. I am the world's ultimate life form." Shadow then caught movement out of the corner of his eyes and realized his time to toy with the blue hedgehog was over.

"Unfortunately, I have places to be and I would hate to keep my new master waiting. Farewell!" said Shadow. With that, another flash of light engulfed Shadow. It then vanished just as quickly along with him.

"Shadow...Just what the heck is he?" asked Sonic to himself as his gaze stood transfixed on Shadow's last spot. Suddenly, something metallic struck him in the head, causing him to close his eyes and cry out in pain. He then held a hand up to the back of his head where the object had hit him, rubbing the sore spot. Suddenly, a small _psh_ noise sounded. For a second, Sonic wondered what the noise was from. It was all he had time to think before the powerful sleeping gas that was now being dispensed from the canister that had hit him knocked him out cold.

"Told you that would work," said a G.U.N. officer as he walked up next to Sonic's unconscious body along side two other soldiers. "Radio command and tell them we've captured the target."

August 24, 2323 22:18

"Blue Falcon, this is Gold Hawk, do you read me?" asked a certain white girl bat seemingly to no one as she walked down a stone corridor of a giant pyramid, a small sack in her right hand. The pyramid she was now inside of was the same one she had been casing for hours now trying to discover a way to follow a certain doctor into it without being spotted. She'd actually been surprised her presence hadn't been discovered yet what with all her snooping around outside.

But her hard effort had paid off as she had finally discovered an emergency escape hatch that apparently wasn't being guarded from either the inside or outside. Now she was walking around the inside of one of the pyramid's corridors, taking note that it looked like it wasn't ancient at all. Rather, it looked to have been made by today's technology. Suddenly, a nearly invisible earpiece in her ear responded to her.

"Blue Falcon here, I read you loud and clear Gold Hawk," said a female voice on the other end of the receiver.

"So spill. Did the higher ups accept my report?" asked the bat as she continued walking down the corridor.

"Every word. They're none the wiser," said the female voice.

"I suppose they really are idiots. You'd think by now they'd have caught on we're working double duty here," said the bat, rolling her eyes.

"Anyways...Do you have a status report for me?" asked the female voice.

"Yeah. I finally managed to sneak into Eggman's base, though the place seems deserted," said the bat. Suddenly, her ears perked up as she heard the sound of a power tool coming from further down the corridor. "Scratch that, someone's here."

"Eggman?" asked the female voice.

"I'll bet my whole diamond collection it's him," said the bat as she kept walking in the direction of the noise.

"You sure you wanna go at it this way?" asked the female voice.

"It was Commander Korvak's idea to do it this way, I figure might as well go along with that plan for now till it gets me in too hot of water," said the bat.

"Just be careful. Eggman's not someone you can trust," said the female voice.

"Like I need to be reminded of that fact," whispered the bat. "Talk to ya later girl." With that, she cut the transmission to the receiver. The noise from the power tool was getting extremely loud now, indicating she was close to the source. As she rounded the corner, a doorway in the corridor could be seen several yards further down. Carefully sneaking over to the doorway, she peeked her head around just far enough to see into the room.

From the way all the walls of the room were lined with computer monitors, the bat could only guess this was the control room for the pyramid. Her eyes then took in a sight to behold. Eggman as facing her with his back turn, knelt down in front of a large machine. At the heart of it was a large violet orb with three metallic rings circling it along its horizontal axis anchored to the bottom of the machine.

As the bat watched, the doctor finished tightening the last screw with the power screwdriver before giving a large sigh of relief and standing back up. The bat instantly retreated her head back to the hallway, then flew up above the doorway so that if Eggman were to exit he wouldn't spot her. She then honed in with her sensitive ears to see if she could make out anything that was going on in the room.

"I suppose stealing this ancient echidna technology from Floating Island the first time I was there was worth it in the end after all," said Eggman as he looked over his work and began to enter the coordinates of where the receiving teleporter was to be found.

"Who would've ever guessed that the people who build that place had recovered and restored one of these to use for quick transportation to and from the there. Granted only a select few individuals used it or even knew about it, but at least my grandfather was among those people," said Eggman. He then started to walk around the machine and over to one of the control consoles for the rooms monitors.

"Still...what could possibly be up there that would require the use of the Chaos Emeralds?" he asked himself. He began punching in commands to the console. Suddenly the screen lit up as the doctor tuned the monitor into the local news channel for Zephyr City. He had been wondering if his attack last night had made the news or not. Knowing the humans, if it had reached the locals' ears, the news would broadcast it for a few days since it was himself involved with it.

"And if you're just joining us, we're going to repeat our top story tonight," said the news anchor as she shuffled the papers in her hands. "The First National Bank of Zephyr City was robbed today. Strangely enough, the only thing that was stolen was a large purple gemstone."

"That must've been the Chaos Emerald that Shadow was talking about," said Eggman to himself as he watched the news report.

"Dash camera footage captured at the scene has led officials to believe that the suspect is none other than the mobian hero, Sonic Hedgehog," said the news anchor. At hearing this, Eggman only grinned widely.

"Oh that's too rich. Those idiots at G.U.N. have mistaken Sonic for Shadow," he said before chuckling to himself. "That'll make this whole thing a lot easier to pull off if that blue pest is too busy dodging the military to worry about what we're doing." Back above the entrance to the room, the bat girl listened intently to what was transpiring inside. She highly doubted that Sonic could've been the one the military wanted to catch. She then realized that Eggman had mentioned someone by the name of Shadow. _Shadow...Could he be linked to Project Shadow?_ thought the bat.

"Oh no, I almost let this news distract me from meeting Shadow on time," said the doctor as he walked over to the teleporter. "All the coordinates are set. Time to see what Shadow has in mind for the Chaos Emeralds." With that, he placed a hand on the orb, the ancient machine powering up before a flash of light engulfed Eggman. The light vanished just as fast along with him. Seeing the flash of light from the hallway, the bat landed and ran inside the room.

"Where the heck did he vanish to?" asked the bat as she looked around the room. She then looked over at the teleporter in the middle of the room. Running over to it, she examined it for a few seconds before spotting a set of coordinates cued up on the lower half of the machine.

"Oh wow! It's some kind of space transporter. I didn't think there was anything this advanced on the whole planet," said Rouge. She then typed a few commands into the machine, watching as the coordinates were reworded to spell out where they were set to.

"ARK? Just what in the world is he planning to do from that old space hulk?" she asked herself. She paused for a second, realizing if she followed after him immediately, she'd be spotted. So she waited for a full thirty seconds before reaching a hand out and touching the orb, the teleporter whisking her away after Eggman.

August 24, 2323 22:41

Shadow gazed out the viewing window at the starry scenery and the large planet below from one of the residential rooms aboard ARK. Standing next to him was his friend Maria. She was dressed in a blue night gown as she brushed her long blond hair as she prepared for bed. Maria was the only person aside from the professor that Shadow respected. The other humans treated him as a lab experiment, but Maria and the professor treated him as an equal. Thinking of that brought a smile to Shadow's face, which didn't go unnoticed by Maria.

"What're you thinking about Shadow?" asked Maria, stopping her brushing. Shadow shook his head a little bit.

"Oh...nothing important," said Shadow, continuing to look out the window.

"Well, I've got something important on my mind, but promise me you won't laugh," said Maria. Shadow turned his attention to his best friend.

"You know I'd never laugh at you," said Shadow. Maria smiled warmly, giving a nod of her head.

"I know, but it never hurts to be reminded that you won't," she said. She then turned her gaze out towards the planet. "I was just thinking that some day...I'd like to visit the world down on the surface if even for just one day. To see how the people there live. To see the flowers and animals that I've only ever seen in picture books."

"I wouldn't mind seeing the world myself someday," said Shadow as he looked back out the window with her.

"Then will you promise to take me there someday Shadow?" asked Maria, looking over at Shadow, who returned his gaze to her.

"I could never refuse a promise to you Maria. Of course I'll take you down to the planet someday," said Shadow.

* * *

Shadow opened his eyes as he took in the same residential room he had made that promise in. Sadness hung heavy with him at being back in the room. All it did was bring back painful memories of a friend that was now dead. _I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise to show you the world below,_ he thought as he walked over to the window and looked out at the planet below.

"You would've been amazed by it, just as I have been seeing what I've seen in the last day," said Shadow softly. His gaze then shifted to a much darker look.

"But those accursed humans...I promise I'll make sure they pay. That the whole world does," he said with anger. Glancing at a watch he had swiped from a pedestrian, he realized he had used up the last of his free time and was now actually running behind his own schedule. He walked back to the nightstand that was still next to the bed in the room. On it was a large picture of Shadow and Maria sitting on the bed.

Shadow picked up the violet Chaos Emerald setting next to the picture, holding it for a few seconds before a flash of light erupted from it as Shadow activated Chaos Control. Instantly Shadow was teleported to a control station inside a massive room near the center of the space colony. A single walkway connected the rather small spire that served as the center of the room with a control station resting in front of it to the only entrance into the room at the far side of the walkway. Turning around, he watched as if responding to his presence the door leading into the control station whooshed open. _A little late, but then again, I suppose I was too,_ he thought.

"Ah doctor. You made the appointed hour, just as I knew you would," said Shadow as Dr. Eggman walked out onto the walkway and towards Shadow. The doctor then pulled the aqua Chaos Emerald from his pocket.

"Well, the next time a little bit of direction on how to get here would help immensely," said the doctor with annoyance in his voice.

"I apologize. But you are here, so let us proceed," said Shadow. "As you know, I am the result of the government research project to create the ultimate lifeform, Project Shadow. However, I wasn't the only research project Professor Gerald was working on. Shortly after my creation, he and his top scientists began work on another project."

"It would seem my grandfather was a busy man," said Eggman. "And I'm guessing this 'other project' has something to do with the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Exactly. Behind me you see the controls for a weapon that overshadows anything you could imagine. It has the potential power to destroy an entire planet. It's codename...the Eclipse Cannon," said Shadow.

"The power to destroy an entire planet?" repeated Eggman, his mind racing with the possibilities such a weapon could have.

"Yes. However, even the good professor knew that such a weapon would require an enormous amount of energy to function properly," said Shadow as he turned and walked up to the control panel, entering a command. Suddenly, the side of the spire just behind the control panel opened up revealing a large hidden compartment with seven holes resting inside.  
"And with the ARK being powered down for decades except for essential systems like life support and the like, the demand for energy is even greater than it was when the ARK was operational. However, as you can see, the professor had figured out how to solve the energy problem. We had the green Chaos Emerald aboard the ARK all those years ago, so the professor knew that they weren't merely legends," said Shadow.

"So those seven holes fit the Chaos Emeralds I assume?" asked Eggman. Shadow merely smiled before reaching over the control panel and placing the violet emerald into one of the matching sockets. A few short seconds later and the darkness that had kept most of the room enshrouded vanished. Lights and systems all across ARK that had lain dormant for decades turned back on as the power of the Chaos Emerald revived the space colony from its slumber.

"As you can see, one emerald alone is enough to power this entire colony. However it would take the cannon months to power up to maximum with a single emerald," said Shadow. "That is why we need to find all the Chaos Emeralds. Once the Eclipse Cannon is powered by all seven, you would wield the ultimate power of destruction. And the world would be yours for the taking." Eggman let out a fit of laughter after hearing those words.

"Oh...I like the way you think Shadow," said Eggman. "So we'll find all the Chaos Emeralds and use the cannon to dominate the world. I'll finally be able to build my Eggman Empire!"

"Do you really think it'll be that easy?" asked a female voice from far above their heads, causing both Shadow and Eggman to look up above them as they spotted a female white bat mobian hovering high above them.

"Just who in the heck are you and how did you get here!?" cried Eggman as the bat flew down onto the bridge behind Eggman.

"Who me? Just someone who can smell opportunity a mile away," said the bat with a wink. "I've been following you're career for some time, doctor. I gotta say this plan has all the makings of actually working."

"That doesn't answer my question!" shouted Eggman.

"Calm yourself doctor. Let's hear what the bat has to say," said Shadow as he walked in their direction.

"Oh...handsome _and_ smart. I like a guy with that kind of combination," said the bat. But Shadow paid no attention to the compliment as he walked up next to Eggman.

"I would use your time to speak to tell us what you want rather than try and flirt with me," said Shadow, narrowing his eyes.

"Right right. I can tell you're not an easy catch, so I'll get to the point," said the bat. "First off, my name's Rouge. I couldn't help but overhear that you're after the Chaos Emeralds to make this little plan of yours work, so I'd like to make a deal with you." With that, she reached into the sack she was carrying and pulled out the gray Chaos Emerald, instantly catching both of her listeners' attention.

"I'm actually something of a jewel fanatic, and this little beauty found its way to me thanks to a few of my contacts. They've told me they know the location of three more Chaos Emeralds. If I give you this one and we retrieve those other three, that would give you six out of seven. And I'm sure my contacts could locate the final one very quickly as well," said Rouge.

"Hmm...You obviously wouldn't make that kind of offer unless you wanted something in return," said Eggman as he crossed his arms while Shadow remained passive.

"Nailed it on the first try Eggy," said Rouge. "All I want is a piece of the prize at the end of the game."

"What makes you think I won't just take that emerald from you and find the others myself? After all, I can sense a Chaos Emerald's general whereabouts fairly easily," said Shadow, finally breaking his silence.

"Really hun, you can do all that?" asked Rouge skeptically. "Alright then. I'll make this deal instead. If you can sense where the three emeralds are that I know of as well as the missing one, I'll gladly hand this one over to you and be on my way."

"And if I can't," asked Shadow.

"If you can't, I join your team hotshot," said Rouge.

"Fine. This shouldn't take long," said Shadow as he closed his eyes and reached out with his sixth sense, trying to detect where on the planet the remaining Chaos Emeralds were at. But as seconds turned into over a minute, he finally opened his eyes as he gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Aw, didn't find them, did ya?" asked Rouge playfully with a cocky smirk on her muzzle.

"As much as I hate admitting it, I can't sense them. Something's blocking their auras," said Shadow, looking severely annoyed with himself.

"Then looks like I'm your new partner, sweetheart. So here's my Chaos Emerald, as promised," she said as she held out the gem towards the two of them. Shadow walked over and took it from her with a nod. "Now that that's settled, let's head back to Eggman's base. I didn't ask where my contacts have found the three emeralds I mentioned earlier, just that they knew where they were. I'll get in touch with them first thing in the morning and we can plan our move."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," said Eggman as he gave a small yawn. "I've been working nonstop to be able to get up here without using my shuttle craft since that'd give away my base's position."

"You have a shuttle in that pyramid?" asked Rouge, looking over at the doctor with surprise.

"It's meant as an escape vessel should Sonic or any of his friends find me there," said Eggman. "One can never be too careful when a base is compromised."

"From the sound of it, this Sonic person's been giving you grief for a long time," said Shadow.

"He has, but I think he's met his match in you Shadow. Not that he should be any concern for the time being, what with the military mistaking him for you," said Eggman.

"Interesting...I met a blue hedgehog just before coming up here that claimed the military was hunting him down for my actions," said Shadow.

"So then you've ran into Sonic already?" asked Eggman.

"It would seem so. But he constitutes no real threat to me. Judging by the way he defeated the walker sent after him and the speed he displayed during both that and trying to catch me, he isn't my equal in the slightest," said Shadow. This caused Eggman to smile widely.

"So that little pincushion has finally met his match in my grandfather's ultimate life form," said Eggman gleefully.

"You mentioned this 'ultimate life form' was yourself Shadow and that it had something to do with a 'Project Shadow' when I was listening in on your conversation with Eggman when you two arrived," said Rouge.

"You are correct, but that's all you need to know. The past is something I try not to dwell on too much. I am only interested in the here and now. And right now we need to collect the Chaos Emeralds," said Shadow.

"Fair enough I suppose," said Rouge, shrugging her shoulders.

"Enough small talk you two. Let's return to the pyramid," said Eggman as he started walking out of the control room, Shadow and Rouge following after him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

August 25, 2323 10:32

The two guards stationed outside of Prison Island's most advanced holding cell snapped to attention as Commander Korvak approached, flanked by his personal guards on either side of him.

"So Captain...Has our guest awoken yet?" asked Korvak.

"Yes sir, commander," said the female guard on the right of the cell as Korvak walked up to the front of the cell and looked inside. The inside of the cell wasn't anything special by any means. A standard cell of any prison with a cot and a toilet in the far corner. But the entrance was nothing of the sort. A high powered force field was being projected over the exit to the cell, one that could withstand a very large explosive before it would even begin to flicker.

"He hasn't said a word since he woke up nearly an hour ago. He's just been sitting there staring at us with a frown on his face," said the female guard.

"I see..." said Korvak. "Let me see if he'll talk to me. In private." This caught both the cell guards as well as his personal guards by surprise.

"Are you sure that's a good idea sir?" asked one of his personal guards.

"Colonel, when I give an order, you do not question me. Understood?" asked Korvak calmly but sternly to the guard. The guard merely nodded his head before the four guards departed from the holding cell. Once they were out of earshot, Korvak turned around to face the cell again, clasping his hands behind his back.

"So then...I hear you gave the pilot of our Big Foot walker quite a scare when you blew up it up," said Korvak. Sonic's frown didn't fade as he got up off the cot and walked over right in front of the barrier.

"So...I take it your the big cheese around here? This 'Korvak' guy that I heard them talking about yesterday?" asked Sonic.

"You will show me some respect, hedgehog. You aren't on the northern continent anymore. You're in my neck of the woods. And I expect you to be on your best behavior while you're under my watch," said Korvak, returning Sonic frown.

"Look, bud," said Sonic, crossing his arms over his chest. "You haven't earned my respect. Not after the way I've been treated,"

"You left us little choice but to drag you in unconscious since you wouldn't come peacefully," said Korvak.

"Like I had a choice but to run. One of the guards you stationed on that copter that was bringing me in was gonna beat the living tar out of me. Then probably turn around and blame me for starting the fight," said Sonic.

"Ah that...Yes...well, he is being dealt with for his little stunt on the copter," said Korvak.

"Besides that, you've caught the wrong guy and I can prove it," said Sonic.

"What makes you say that? You're the only mobian hedgehog that can do all the things we witnessed the other night on our security cameras," said Korvak. "Plus you destroying one of our walkers doesn't help your story much either."

"Because I met the guy who's been dragging my name through the mud," said Sonic. It was at this statement that Sonic noticed Korvak's frown turn into a more surprised and slightly nervous look for a couple of seconds before he regained his composure.

"Really now? And do you have a description of this so-called imposter?" asked Korvak.

"Definitely," said Sonic, his frown finally vanishing. "He was a black hedgehog with a red stripe on top of each of his quills. He had a white tuft of fur on his chest and glaring red eyes. And he can somehow teleport using a Chaos Emerald." Sonic then noticed that Korvak was beginning to lose the calm look he had. If he didn't know better, he'd swear the commander looked almost sick to his stomach.

"I see...He didn't happen to give you a name, did he?" asked Korvak.

"He did. He said his name was Shadow," said Sonic. Now he knew something was going on, cause after telling him the name Korvak looked almost white as sheet. This told him for sure Korvak knew more than he was letting on. Suddenly, Korvak turned to the side and started to walk away from the cell, leaving Sonic behind.

"Hey! Where ya going? You know something don't you!?" cried Sonic. But Korvak didn't pay any attention to Sonic as he opened the door leading out of the detention block and walked out, the door closing behind him.

August 25, 2323 11:06

Nicole sighed as she looked over the newest patch of data her hacking had uncovered from Prison Island's database. Cyberspace was still "new" to her in the respect that she was now fully aware of what she was doing. Before, she hadn't taken on a "physical" form in the web ways of cyberspace, but rather let her AI matrix kinda be on autopilot during her hacking. Now her lynx body floated amongst countless bits of information, all of it coming from inside Prison Island's mainframe. She had been at work for hours on end now, but so far she hadn't found any trace of information referring to a "Project Shadow" in the databanks.

"This is getting me nowhere fast," said Nicole as she brushed aside another dead end file after having spent nearly ten minutes cracking its encryption. Suddenly, she noticed that an intercom linked directly to the G.U.N. leaders' private meeting room had become active.

"Well...Maybe one of the leaders will get sloppy and say something. Can't be any worse than it's been going so far," she mused as she tuned in to the intercom's frequency, which of course was heavily encrypted. A frown crossing her face, she began running algorithms through her AI matrix as she searched for the correct encryption. She was rewarded a few seconds later as her audio sensors successfully linked to the intercom. A smile replaced her frown, satisfied with herself at how fast she had cracked the encryption as she prepared to listen in to what was supposed to be a private conversation.

* * *

Nearly all of G.U.N.'s leaders sat at the same large conference table they had been sitting at just after the news of Shadow's release had brought them together. The ones who weren't there were broadcasting from their posts at various outposts scattered around the southern continent.

"No Korvak! This is going too far!" yelled a man in his late fifties, his light grey hair cut to normal military length with his brown right eye and blue left eye glaring angrily at his commander. "I want Shadow to be stopped as bad as you do. I know he's a monster, but you can't kill Sonic just to save your stupid involvement with the incident on the ARK from being leaked! I wasn't here at the last meeting so I didn't know the extent to which you were willing to go to hide that incident. But you are overstepping your boundaries by doing this!"

"General Tavor, if news of Shadow or our attack on ARK gets out, then G.U.N. is finished. Sonic has become a liability to this organization and must be silenced for good," said Korvak. "Believe me, I don't want to do this...Sonic has saved countless people from Dr. Eggman and even our own from that water monster disaster in Emerald City. But I will _not_ allow Shadow's existence to be known to anyone but us."

"So that means you're going to kill Rouge once she's brought Shadow back to us and retrieved the Project Shadow files Eggman stole then as well?" asked Tavor, a look of stunned shock on his face.

"Of course. She's a loose end that must be tied up," said Korvak.

"Look, Tavor. I know you were one of the few that survived the incident on ARK all those years ago, but the past is the past," said another general's voice over the intercom in the middle of the table.

"I lost my life up there, Nowell...my friends and my family were butchered by you. But when I found out why you had done it, I knew it had been justified. Shadow could never be let loose on this world. It would be the end of us," said Tavor, looking down at the table.

"That's why I joined G.U.N. in the first place and worked my way up to this position...So I could ensure Shadow wouldn't become a problem to the world," said Tavor.

"Then you know why our attack must remain a secret, why Shadow must remain a secret," said Korvak. Tavor slowly nodded his head in agreement. "Then we're back to where we started."

"But who'll be the one to initiate the gas dispensers in the cell?" ask another general in his late seventies with dyed brown hair and thick glasses adorning his face that was sitting opposite of Tavor.

"I'll do it myself, Conner," said Korvak, looking over at the general who asked the question. "No offense, but I don't trust anyone other than myself to have the nerve out of all of us to not back down from doing it."

"When will you do it?" asked Tavor, looking up at Korvak.

"I'll do it at 11:30 sharp," said Korvak. Suddenly, Tavor got up from his seat and walked towards the exit of the room. "Where are you going?"

"I need to go for a walk. Doing this has made me feel ill to my stomach," said Tavor.

* * *

Tails laid on his bed inside the hotel he and the others were staying at, his mind absorbed in brainstorming new inventions. For the last hour he had been going over how to make the Tornado a submersible in some way. But he knew the design would be incredibly complex to make it a pressurized sealed environment underwater while still retaining all the modifications he'd already done to the small bi-plane. Suddenly he saw a flicker of light right in front of his face before Nicole's holo image appeared literally half a foot from his face.

"Tails! We have to stop them from doing it!" she yelled, causing Tails to cry out in terror at being startled by the lynx as he gripped the bed with his arms and legs as hard as he could in response to the surprise.

"By the heavens of Mobius, Nicole! You don't have to scare the life out of me!" cried Tails as he gathered his wits again.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have time! They're going to kill Sonic!" shouted Nicole. Instantly Tails snapped to attention.

"Are you positive?" he asked, hoping for once Nicole wasn't right about something.

"I heard their commander himself say he was going to do it at 11:30 sharp," said Nicole. Tails glanced over at the atomic clock on the wall, noting it would be in less than a half an hour.

"You're right, there is no time," said Tails as he jumped off the bed and ran over, snatching Nicole's physical self off the table.

"Where are we going!?" shouted Nicole as she shut off her image in response to the commotion.

"We're going to bust Sonic out ourselves before they can kill him," said Tails.

"But what about Sally? And won't this entice a war or something!?" cried Nicole's voice.

"I'm sorry, but my best friend is worth more to me than keeping the peace between us and the humans," said Tails as he ran around the corner leading to the elevator when he ran smack into Sally, knocking both of them to the ground.

"Ow! What are you running through the halls for Tails!?" exclaimed Sally.

"No time Sally. They're gonna kill Sonic if I don't get to him in time," said Tails as he got back to his feet. This news caught Sally's attention.

"Are you sure?" she asked, doubt laced in her voice.

"I heard it myself Sally," said Nicole's voice. "They're going to do it in a little over twenty minutes from now."

"I'll call the president," said Sally as she got back to her feet as well. "He has the authority to stop them."

"Sally, I don't think that'll stop it even if he got in contact with their commander in time. I have to go save him," said Tails.

"But Tails-" started Sally.

"But nothing Sally!" shouted Tails, causing the ground squirrel to flinch in surprise as tears started to form in the young fox's eyes. "I can't sit by and let them kill him when he did nothing wrong!" Sally stood silent for a few more seconds, then nodded her head.

"You're right. If the military leaders have gone rogue, they won't stop," she said. "I'll still call the president and let him know what's going on. You and Nicole go and save Sonic." Tails smiled as he gave a nod of his head as well.

"We will. Count on it," said Tails as he ran down the hallway and into the elevator that had just arrived.

August 25, 2323 11:13

The sun was shining brightly and the smell of the salty sea air was amazing, even on Prison Island, if one stopped to enjoy such things. However, the three individuals now hiding amongst the edge of the foliage of the forest that surrounded the Prison Island complex weren't there to enjoy the scenery.

"You do realize you're insane to be wanting to attack this place again for the second time in less than three days, right?" asked Eggman as he looked over at Rouge from the vantage point of his walker's controls. "And why would the Chaos Emeralds even be here anyways? Are you sure your contacts are one hundred percent positive they're here?"

"Look Eggy, you can believe what you wanna believe," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "But my contacts told me this is where three of the emeralds are being kept. They were even able to tell us the safe lockbox numbers they're being kept in, didn't they? And trust me, they've never been wrong before."

"How did your contacts get such detailed information anyway?" asked Shadow, looking over at her with his arms crossed over his chest with a distrusting look.

"Look, Shady, you don't wanna share your past with me, I don't wanna share who my contacts are with you. Fair enough?" she asked him with a glare in her eyes. Shadow just huffed in response.

"Enough you two," said Eggman. "It's time to get to work."

"Speaking of which, you were pretty light in the details doc," said Rouge.

"Good plans are always done with as much secrecy as can be had, my dear," said Eggman as he fumbled around inside the walker's cockpit for something. Finding it, he looked back up at his mobian companions. "Alright. First off, I'll go and distract the base's defense force so you two can sneak inside undetected. I have no doubt they'll want a second crack at me after my first embarrassing defeat over them which should make your intrusion go unnoticed."

"Are you sure you don't want me to do that part, doctor?" asked Shadow.

"I'm sure Shadow. You have a much more important task I'm assigning you," said Eggman as he handed a small gray box with a timer on it towards Shadow, who took it and started giving it a once over.

"Hey...That's a baradium charge isn't it?" asked Rouge, seeing what Shadow was holding.

"Indeed it is. You know your explosives well, don't you?" asked Eggman.

"A gal in my kind of business needs to know how to crack the safest of safes after all," she said.

"So what am I to do with this thing?" asked Shadow, looking back up at Eggman.

"You will go to the armory and plant that charge on anything that looks like it'll cause a big bang when it goes off and set the timer for ten minutes," said Eggman. "While you're doing that, Rouge will sneak into the security vault and get the Chaos Emeralds. Once we have them, we'll escape the island while the armory blows up taking the whole island with it! They'll never know what hit them!"

"Do we really have to blow up the island?" asked Rouge, a nervous look crossing her face.

"If you don't have the stomach for it, you can always back out now," said Shadow with a smirk.

"No no...I just...I just think that it's a little over the top, isn't it?" she asked.

"Glory comes not for the weak, bat girl. Remember that," said Eggman. Rouge only respond with a nod, realizing this situation was far out of her control now and knowing she'd have to continue along with it if she wasn't to be discovered. _I hope Natara's paying attention once I get a moment away from these two,_ thought Rouge to herself.

"Now then, we only have thirty minutes to pull this off, and we only get one chance, so don't screw it up!" said Eggman.

"Hey Sonic! I'm glad to see you're alright!" shouted a female voice from behind the trio, all three of them turning around to see a pink furred echidna with matching hair with three tufts of white in her bangs come running up behind them. Her emerald green eyes that matched her tank top, shorts and boots were filled with happiness. A black scabbard was strapped to her back that was holding a long sword topped off her look. But as she got a better look at Shadow as he turned around and stepped forward out of the shadows of the forest, the happiness in her eyes was quickly replaced by curiosity.

"Wait a second...You're not Sonic. Who are you?" asked the girl. Suddenly, she frowned and turned her gaze towards Rouge.

"Who I am isn't your concern," said Shadow. But the echidna's attention was fully absorbed by the bat now.

"Alright whoever you are. I can sense you have a piece of the Master Emerald. Where did you get it from cause I seriously doubt Knuckles or Mira let you have it," said the echidna girl to Rouge. _How the heck does she know I found a fragment of that giant emerald?_ thought Rouge to herself, shying slightly away from the echidna's stare. The echidna's eyes then fell upon the walker and, more importantly, who was piloting it.

"Hey...I know you! You're Dr. Eggman, aren't you?" asked the echidna, though she didn't seem filled with fear like almost everyone else that came across the doctor.

"Just great," said Eggman as he turned his walker back around to face the girl. "I suppose you must be another one of Sonic's little friends I haven't had the displeasure of meeting yet. You have very bad timing, I must say." The girl quickly unsheathed her sword and took a defensive stance with the weapon. This only caused the doctor to laugh lightly to himself as he aimed the walker's laser cannon at her.

"Come now, dear girl. Do you honestly think that blade can match up to my state of the art walker?" asked Eggman. A gritting of teeth in frustration for a couple of seconds and then the girl sheathed her weapon. She then turned and took off in the opposite direction and out onto the nearby airfield.

"Want me to take her out?" asked Shadow, looking back up at Eggman.

"We don't have the time. I'll deal with her. You two get started on your missions," said Eggman as the walker started chasing after the girl. As the walker emerged from the forest, he spotted the girl running towards the control tower in the distance. He knew he had to stop her before the guards in the tower noticed her. He gunned the walker's throttle as it took off at over thirty miles per hour, quickly closing the gap between him and the girl.

"Leave her along Eggman!" shouted an all to familiar voice to the doctor from above and just in front of him as a blue walker similar to Eggman's in size landed with a clang onto the asphalt of the airstrip. Eggman stopped his walker as fast as he could, a sneer crossing his face as he stared the pilot of the walker in the his blue eyes. The girl he had been chasing stopped and looked back at the scene unfolding behind her.

"Tails...I should've known if one of Sonic's friends was here that there'd be more of you coming out of the woodwork," hissed Eggman.

"I'm only warning you once, Eggman. Back off or you'll have to deal with me and my Cyclone walker," said Tails, a fearless look on his face as he armed the walker's weapon systems. Eggman debated taking him up on the challenge, for he owed the two tailed fox for what he did to him in Emerald City. But he knew that if he got into a fight with Tails now, it would only screw up what he, Shadow, and Rouge were trying to do.

"Fine, Tails. I'll let you and the girl go this one time, but only because I have more important matters to attend to. But trust me, the next time we meet fur ball, you won't be so lucky," said Eggman as he whipped the walker around and marched it off in the opposite direction.

"That's right! You'd better run!" shouted Tails as Eggman departed, the echidna walking up next to the Cyclone.

"I figured I'd be the only one trying to bust Sonic out of this place. How have you been?" asked the echidna.

"Sorry Angel, but now's not the time to catch up. The G.U.N. commander plans to kill Sonic in less than fifteen minutes from now, so we have no time to waste," said Tails as the Cyclone started walking towards the edge of the forest, Angel jogging alongside of it.

"Are you serious?" asked Angel as she followed after Tails. Suddenly Nicole projected her lynx image so it looked as if she was sitting on the back of the walker.

"It's true, I'm afraid," said Nicole.

"Umm...I don't think we've been introduced before," said Angel, looking up at the lynx.

"Where are my manners," said Nicole, looking down at Angel with a smile on her face. "My name's Nicole."

"Nicole? You mean that little handheld computer Nicole?" asked Angel, amazement on her face as Nicole gave a nod in response.

"Focus you two," said Tails as they entered the forest. "I'm worried about why Eggman is here, but I'm more worried about getting to Sonic in time."

"Which is why I say we split up," said Angel.

"Why's that?" asked Nicole.

"Because as much as I hate saying it, Leviathan trained me to be stealthy. I have a much better chance of sneaking inside the base and getting Sonic out without them knowing," said Angel.

"Agreed. My plan was to just blast my way in, but your way is way more practical," said Tails.

"Seriously? That was your plan?" asked Nicole, a look astonishment on her holographic face. Tails only frowned at the question.

"Like I had much time to think up a plan. We just found out less than ten minutes ago what was going on," said Tails.

"Easy you two. No need to get mad at one another," said Angel. Suddenly, a loud explosion sounded a fair distance away from them to their left sides in the direction Eggman's walker had taken off in. "I'm guessing that was probably Eggman."

"I'd wager it was too," said Tails, looking back in the direction of the noise. "That actually benefits us greatly. If the base is preoccupied with him, then they won't be watching their internal security as much."

"I calculate a ninety-four percent chance of that being the case," said Nicole.

"Alright then. New plan. I want you to take Nicole with you and get Sonic out of there," said Tails, glancing down at his wristwatch as he picked up Nicole's physical self and handed it towards Angel. "You have a little under twelve minutes to get to his cell before the commander arrives."

"Gotcha," said Angel as she took Nicole from Tails, the lynx's image vanishing.

"Don't worry Angel. One of the first things I did when I hacked into this place's mainframe was download a complete schematic of the inside of the base. I'll guide you as best I can," said Nicole's voice from her speaker.

"That'd be extremely helpful," said Angel, who looked back up at Tails as he offered her a two way handheld radio, the echidna taking it as well. "And what will you be doing in the meantime?"

"I'll be monitoring their communications for any signs of trouble. If something happens, I'll let you know about it as soon as I can," said Tails.

"Sounds good," said Angel as she looked down at Nicole. "Shall we?'

"Let's," said Nicole's voice before Angel took off at a run into the forest.

August 25, 2323 11:28

Sonic sat on his cot, going over and over in his mind what it could be that had spooked the commander so badly hearing about Shadow. The way Korvak had reacted made it seem like he knew exactly who Shadow was. The sound of the cell block's door activating drew Sonic's attention. The blue hedgehog's eyes glanced over at the cell's exit till Commander Korvak walked up to the force field, a solemn look on his face.

"So you finally care to explain what's going on for real?" asked Sonic, getting off the cot and walking over to the doorway.

"I suppose telling you now wouldn't hurt," said Korvak. "You see, the hedgehog you met last night was the product of a government experiment aboard the space colony ARK to create the ultimate life form. Shadow, as you know him, was deemed too dangerous to be allowed to be free. So the ARK was raided to capture him and kill anyone associated with the project." Sonic's face twisted into horror as he realized what the commander was telling him.

"You were there, weren't you?" asked Sonic.

"I was a light infantry man at the time. We were told we were stopping a threat to the entire world," said Korvak, looking at the ground. "We didn't know till afterwards what had really been the reason. G.U.N.'s leaders at the time feared Shadow and wanted to place him under controlled conditions so that he would never be a threat."

"And now he's loose on the planet," said Sonic.

"Exactly. We should've killed him rather than seal him away, but the G.U.N. leaders at the time didn't want to see their 'investment' be for nothing," said Korvak.

"What you did was mass murder if it was ordered out of a fear instead of fact," said Sonic.

"I know..." said Korvak as he turned away from Sonic's gaze. "A day doesn't go by that I can't still see those people...Their cries of terror and the sound of gunfire. I still remember the last person I killed that day. A poor little girl with long blonde hair that was only trying to escape from us."

"So make amends now," said Sonic.

"It's too late..." said Korvak as he turned back around, pulling a small keycard from his breast pocket. "I'm sorry for this Sonic, I truly am."

"Sorry for what?" asked Sonic, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"You know too much...And so...I have to make sure you're never able to tell the world what you now know," said Korvak as he placed the keycard into a slot along the cell's control panel. Suddenly realizing what was going on, Sonic leapt to the back of the cell and curled into a spindash. He rapidly started gathering chaos energy from the air in the cell as he charged up his light speed attack, his body beginning to glow a bright blue in color. Uncurling, he noticed that Korvak had stopped to watch him.

"If you think I'm just gonna roll over and die cause of what I know, you've got another thing coming," said Sonic. He then blasted forward, instantly breaking the sound barrier as he struck the force field. For a few seconds, the field began to discharge as the force of Sonic's collision started to strain it before it knocked him flat onto his back as the barrier refused to give way to him.

"This cell was built to hold Shadow, so of course you can't get out of it," said Korvak. Suddenly, a loud clang sounded as the metal duct paneling just above Korvak was knocked loose. Korvak looked up just in time to get smacked in the face with the heavy object, knocking him to the floor and out cold. A second later, an all too familiar figure to Sonic dropped down out of the ductwork and landed gracefully onto the floor of the cell block.

"Angel! Oh man am I glad to see you!" cried Sonic.

"Same here," said Angel as she got to her feet.

"That crazy commander was about to kill me," said Sonic, looking down at the fallen form of the human.

"Which is why Tails, Nicole, and I came to get your out of here," said Angel. She then walked up to the control panel and held Nicole up towards it with her infrared port aimed at it.

"This'll just take a second," said Nicole as she began to try and crack the door's coding, being rewarded a second later as the panel flashed a green light as the force field deactivated.

"Thanks a lot you two," said Sonic as he stepped out of the cell. "We need to meet back up with Tails if he's here on the island."

"I'm on the northeast edge of the island," said Tails voice through the radio's speaker.

"Good to hear from ya big guy. We'll be there in two shakes of a lamb's tail," said Sonic. But Angel held up a hand.

"Go on ahead without me," said Angel, handing Sonic the radio.

"Why?" asked Sonic.

"I sensed the presence of a piece of the Master Emerald on a female bat that was with Eggman. I intend to get it back from her before I leave," said Angel, her face full of determination. Sonic hesitated for a few seconds before smiling and giving a nod.

"Alright then. If you don't find her in ten minutes after we get out of this place, give up and come back to where Tails is at. We can always find her later," said Sonic. Angel gave a smile and a nod of her own.

"Deal. I can sense the general area she's in, so it shouldn't take me that long to track her down," said Angel. Then another thought crossed her mind. "By the way, there was some black hedgehog here with Eggman that I mistook for you when I got here. Do you know anything about him?"

"You seriously saw Shadow here?" asked Sonic, instantly interested in what Angel had just said.

"If that's his name. Black fur, white tuft on his chest, red stripes on his quills," said Angel.

"Awesome! If he's here, I can finally catch him and clear my name! Now let's get out of here as fast as we can," said Sonic as he leapt up into the ductwork above their heads.

"We've got to get out of here before someone realizes the commander's missing," said Sonic as he stuck his head back into the ductwork.

"You're right," said Angel as she leapt up to it to join him.

* * *

"Seems like the doctor is holding up his end of the deal," said Shadow as he skated up to the edge of the forest next to the armory. He was glad the military hadn't frozen him immediately after catching him all those years ago. He had had plenty of time to remember the whereabouts of all the important areas of the complex during his short stay before being placed in suspended animation.

Shadow only smiled as he saw various combat robots exiting the armory and flying off in the direction of the latest explosion that had sounded just a few seconds earlier. _This will be too easy,_ he thought as he ran out of the forest and up against the armory's wall. Sneaking around to the front of the building, he glanced around the corner to see that to his surprise there was no one guarding the building.

"Idiots, the whole lot of them," said Shadow to himself as he walked out from behind the building and right into the entrance. Once inside, he skated down the rows of munitions till he spotted the perfect place to plant the explosives. Right on top of an assortment of missile warheads. Reaching down to his wristwatch, he pressed one of its buttons. "I'm in doctor. You were right. They abandoned the building to come stop you, just as you said they would."

"Of course they did," said Eggman's voice over the watch. "They won't let me get away a second time, or so they think."

"So how long did you want me to set the timer for again?" asked Shadow as he attached the baradium charge to one of the warheads.

"Rouge, are you in position yet?" asked Eggman.

"Yeah. They nearly abandoned the vault as well. Just a couple of hovering security drones, nothing I can't deal with. Five minutes should be plenty of time," said Rouge's voice over the watch.

"Very good. Set the timer for ten minutes as I originally said, then meet me back at the rendezvous point," said Eggman.

"As you say," said Shadow as he set the timer.

"On my mark. Three...two...one...mark," he said as he pressed his own watch's timer to countdown in sync with the baradium charge's timer. "That's it. We now have ten minutes to be off the island."

"Alright, Rouge. The rest is up to you. Don't fail me!" said Eggman.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

August 25, 2323 11:28

"Alright, I'll meet you two there as soon as I can," said Rogue into her watch communicator as she ran down one of several dozen rows of different sized storage units inside the main vault of the base. She was glad that she had her pass codes to enter the area without raising the alarm. This was evident by the security robot wandering the same row of units doing nothing but continue walking slowly on its way as the bat girl ran by it. _Okay. Getting the Chaos Emeralds will be a snap, but that bomb is a major problem. I just hope Natara's at her station,_ thought Rouge as she raised a hand to her ear, activating her other communications device.

"Natara, we've got a big problem and no time left!" cried Rouge.

* * *

"Whoa! Slow down Rouge. Who's in the armory?" asked Sergeant Natara as she started to hack into the cameras for the armory. Normally there would've been someone watching the monitors, but for whatever reason, Commander Korvak had ordered the cameras inside the base be deactivated for five minutes. This had just ended less than a minute ago. But as to why he had ordered that, no one in the base had a clue.

"Shadow's in there! He planted a bomb in the armory and it's set to go off in less than ten minutes! You have to activate the base's evacuation alert now!" shouted Rouge's voice over Natara's headset. Finally cracking the cameras security, Natara was rewarded as her monitor lit up with every camera view that was available inside the armory. Looking around, she quickly spotted the one thing out of place. A small box-like object was resting atop a missile rack. Sweat began to appear on the young woman's face as she realized there was no time to defuse the bomb.

"Something wrong Sergeant?" asked a voice from behind Natara, causing her to jump slightly before she turned her head behind her only to see General Tavor standing over her.

"General Tavor, sir. It's not what you think," said Natara.

"It's alright Natara. I've known for a while now about you and Rouge secretly working for the president," said Tavor.

"Then why not turn us in?" asked Natara.

"I have my reasons. Korvak's overstepped his bounds, so I'm relieving him of duty," said Tavor.

"What did he do?" asked Natara.

"He killed Sonic to continue to hide this organization's darkest secret," said Tavor, looking down at the ground.

"I doubt that," said Rouge's voice over Natara's headset.

"Why's that Rouge?" asked Natara.

"If Eggman couldn't do him in after all these years, then there's no way Korvak killed him in just a single day," said Rouge. Natara turned back to her screen and switched the cameras being shown to the one in the maximum security holding cell. Both Tavor and Natara were surprised by the scene they now saw. The cell was empty, the force field down, and an unconscious Korvak was laying on the floor next to a ventilation duct cover.

"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle. That hedgehog is even better than the stories I've heard," said Natara.

"That's good. I'll sleep better at night knowing he escaped," said Tavor.

"Natara. The bomb?" said Rouge's voice, snapping Natara back to the task at hand.

"Right. General Tavor, Shadow planted a bomb in the armory that'll go off in roughly nine minutes," said Natara.

"Hmm...No time to defuse it then. Hand me your headset and tune its frequency into the base's main communications grid," said Tavor. Natara handed him the headset before complying with his order.

"You're on sir," said Natara.

"Attention all personnel. This is General Tavor. Eggman has managed to place a bomb inside the armory. Estimated time till detonation is eight minutes and counting. I'm initiating evacuation orders for the entire base. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill. Proceed to the evacuation vehicles as quickly as possible, " said Tavor.

"Sir, what about Korvak?" asked Natara, looking up at the general.

"I'll send my personal guards to escort him off the island. I'll take him to a secure location till we can court martial him and all the other corrupt leaders of G.U.N.," said Tavor. He grimaced as he shook his head. "All of us generals at the top have been hiding a horrendous secret for fifty years. It's time the truth was known and this organization was cleansed. Even if it costs me my career."

"What secret sir?" asked Natara.

"Now's not the time Sergeant. I'd suggest leaving now while there are still transports on the island," said Tavor.

"Of course sir. Hopefully I'll see you again after this is all over," said Natara.

"You be sure to come out of this in one piece too Rouge," said Tavor into the headset.

"I haven't come this far to fail now sir," said Rouge's voice. "Both of you take care of yourselves till this is all over."

"We will, Rouge," said Natara. "Now finish whatever you have to do and get off the island."

"Of course. Over and out," said Rouge.

August 25, 2323 11:29

The wind and forest scenery was a welcome change from the cramped insides of the base's ductwork as Sonic and Angel reached the edge of the forest leading in the direction Tails was waiting.

"So nice to be back out in the fresh air," said Sonic. He then keyed the radio. "We're out Tails, but Angel's got something she has to attend to before we leave."

"What in the world could be more important than getting out of here?" asked Tails.

"Give you one good guess as to why any echidna would choose this place over leaving," said Sonic.

"The Master Emerald is here!?" exclaimed Tails.

"A piece of it is," said Angel with a frown. "A female bat that was with Eggman has it. I plan to get it back from her."

"I'm giving her ten minutes to track the bat down before she abandons the chase and joins back up with us," said Sonic.

"Well, at least I have some good news. For some reason the base is in evacuation alert, which probably means no one will pay you any mind while you go after her," said Tails.

"Guess Eggman spooked them too badly," said Sonic.

"I doubt Eggman attacking them alone did that," said Tails. "Problem is they've been encrypting their communications ever since I've tried to hack in and its proving difficult to crack."

"Want me to take a shot at it Tails?" asked Nicole.

"No. I think Angel will need you to get back inside the base. They may be in evacuation mode, but I doubt that means the security doors are wide open," said Tails.

"Hey Angel," said Sonic, looking over at the echidna.

"Yeah?" she asked, looking back at him.

"I know how important the Master Emerald is to you, but I also don't like the fact that the base is evacuating. Promise me you'll give up after five minutes instead of ten," said Sonic.

"But I thought we agreed-" started Angel.

"Promise me," said Sonic as he interrupted her mid-sentence. Angel hesitated for a few seconds, then gave a small smile and nodded her head. "Thanks. I'm going to look around for Shadow. Hopefully he's still here on the island somewhere, but I'll give up after a few minutes. Should only take me that long to search this island thoroughly."

"Just be careful Sonic. I have a bad feeling Shadow isn't going to be a pushover," said Tails.

"You worry too much little bro. After all, there's no one faster than me on this planet," said Sonic. _As long as he doesn't have a Chaos Emerald to do that little teleport trick again, he'll be easy to catch,_ thought Sonic.

"I know you'll catch him," said Angel. She then turned and started running back towards the base.

"Please be careful in there Ange," said Sonic to himself as he took off into the forest.

August 25, 2323 11:31

Rouge hovered ten feet off the floor of the newest hallway of storage units she was in. She had both the yellow and red Chaos Emeralds tucked under her left arm as she entered her pass code into the final storage unit.

"And that makes three," said Rouge as she pulled the green Chaos Emerald out from within the unit. Glancing down at her watch, it showed six minutes remaining till the bomb in the armory went off. _That was too easy. I just hope everyone gets off the island before that bomb goes off,_ she thought to herself.

"Hey bats!" shouted an all too familiar female voice from directly below her. Surprise clearly evident on her face, she looked down to see the very same echidna she had seen outside now standing directly below her.

"How did you get in here?" asked Rouge. Suddenly realizing what the echidna's presence meant, panic began to set in. "Get the heck out of here right now before a drone spots you!"

"Not without that Master Emerald shard!" shouted Angel up to the floating bat. Suddenly, a loud siren began to sound from the edge of the hallway, both girls looking down to see a security drone looking directly at Angel.

"You idiot! You've trapped us in here!" shouted Rouge before the metallic sound of the vault's main doorway closing echoed through its inner chambers. Ignoring the bat, Angel unsheathed her sword with one hand and charged the drone. She raced past it with a swing of her blade, the noise going silent as the robot was cleaved in two. Sheathing her weapon, she looked back up at Rouge.

"What do you mean 'trapped'"? asked Angel. The bat flew down till she was right in front of Angel.

"I had pass codes to get inside which is why the drones ignored me! But you're an intruder to the base, so when they saw you the vault went into lockdown! Now there's no way out of here!" shouted Rouge angrily at the echidna.

"Uh girls...I think we have a bigger problem," said Nicole's voice from her place in Angel's hand, the echidna also noticing what had caught the AI's attention. Seeing the wide eyed expression on Angel's face, Rouge turned around. A large hovering robot with missile pods and a chin mounted laser cannon came barreling down from the far end of the hallway at them.

"Run now, talk later!" cried Rouge as she flew up towards the ceiling at the same time Angel dashed around the corner. She then headed for the large open space in the center of the vault. Rouge could only watch as the robot chased after Angel. She quickly realized that it had chosen the easier of its two targets to go after first since the echidna was unable to fly like she was. As Angel reached the center of the open space, she quickly placed Nicole in her shorts' pocket and unsheathed her sword. She then took a defensive stance with the weapon.

"Hang on Nicole. This is might get intense," said Angel.

"Just be careful," said Nicole's voice from Angel's shorts pocket as the robot finally cleared the hallway before coming to a hover. It gave its target a once over for a few seconds before rushing at her with its laser cannon firing rapidly at the ground.

 _Too easy,_ was all Angel thought as she held her ground till the last second, quickly leaping out of the way as the robot passed by overhead. Turning to face the robot's backside, Angel jumped up as hard as she could at the robot, closing the gap between it and the ground in only a couple seconds.

She then gave a solid swipe with her sword, the weapon slicing into the middle of the robot's five engines on its backside as the engine sputtered and died. The robot's balance was suddenly thrown off by losing one of its engines. Angel landed back on the floor of the vault, looking up to see the robot struggling for a few moments to regain its balance as it flew to the far end of the space.

But it quickly stopped wobbling before turning to face Angel again. This time, however, it didn't charge her as instead its cannon started to build up energy for a much more powerful single shot. This went unnoticed by Angel who had retaken her defensive stance, her distance from the robot making her unable to see the laser powering up.

"Not today!" shouted Rouge as she delivered a powerful corkscrew kick right through robot's side and out the other, passing right through its armored hide like it was nothing. Her attack knocked its aim off course the instant before it fired. This caused its shot to go wide and hit the floor a good fifteen feet away from Angel. The small explosion resulting from the hit only succeeded in knocking her to the ground.

Rouge turned back around to watch just in time as the robot launched one lone missile from one of its pods before crashing to the ground. Looking at where the missile was headed, she realized it was going to strike the roof directly above the fallen echidna. The bat instantly took off towards Angel just before the missile struck the roof, exploding as a chunk of the reinforced steel ceiling was blown loose.

"Look out!" shouted Rouge as she landed next to Angel, grasping her by the arm and tossing the echidna as hard as she could out from under the falling debris. Unfortunately, while it did save Angel from being crushed, Rouge wasn't able to move in time before the steel ceiling piece fell on top of her as it buried her under its large heavy frame. Rouge cried out in pain from beneath the rubble.

"Oh no! Hold on!" shouted Angel as she quickly got back to her feet and ran over to the debris. She then grasped on the underside of the ceiling piece with both hands.

"Listen! I'm going to try lifting it off you, but you're gonna have to crawl out on your own! And don't waste any time cause I don't know how long I'll be able to hold it up off you!" cried Angel. Not hearing an answer, Angel feared the worst for the bat. But she also knew mobians were a much sturdier lot than humans. "I'm going to count to three, then lift it! One...Two...Three!"

With that, Angel strained hard as she lifted the chunk of ceiling to about her waist. Her eyes closed tightly as she strained with all of her strength to hold it in place. She knew right away she couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds, but prayed the bat was getting to safety. Unable to see anything, Angel felt her grip starting to slip before she felt someone tap her on her foot.

Hoping it was Rouge signaling to her that she was out, she slowly lowered the ceiling piece back to the floor. She let go of it an inch above the ground as it clanged against the floor. Completely winded, Angel fell on her behind, gasping for air as she tried to recover from the strain she had just endured. She opened her eyes and looked behind her to see the bat girl laying on the floor behind her.

"Are you okay?" asked Angel.

"Probably no worse for the wear after having a huge piece of steel land on you," said Rouge, pain laced in her voice. She then inhaled sharply as her left wing unfolded out, but her right remained in the same place. But when Angel's attention was drawn to the right wing not moving, she instantly saw the reason for it.

"Don't move your right wing. I can tell just by looking at it that its broken," said Angel as she knelt down next to Rouge to get a better look at it. Rouge turned her attention towards the ceiling, looking crestfallen at what she saw.

"Well that's perfect," said Rouge. "And after that robot was nice enough to blow open an exit for us too." Angel glanced up to see that the robot's missile had indeed blown open a hole in the ceiling, daylight and fresh air from the outside now entering the vault. Rouge looked back at Angel with a small smirk on her face.

"Don't suppose you can jump that high can ya?" asked Rouge.

"Sorry. You saw me jump as high as I can when I attacked that robot," said Angel. Rogue gave a sigh before standing up, Angel also standing.

"Let's just hope my new friends can get us out of here," said Rouge.

August 25, 2323 11:33

Shadow's face was completely stoic as he walked through the forest area leading to their rendezvous point. By his estimates, the bomb would go off in four more minutes. _Plenty of time to get off this rock before the big bang,_ thought Shadow to himself.

"Eggman...Shadow. I've had a bit of a...snag on my end," said Rouge's voice over the watch.

"What do you mean 'snag' Rouge? "snapped Eggman's voice.

"Well, I found the Chaos Emeralds no problem, but an unforeseen issue now has me trapped in the vault. There's a hole in the ceiling to get out of. Problem is my wing's broken and I can't get out on my own now," said Rouge.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you with something this important! I don't have time to come save your hide! You're on your own bat girl!" cried Eggman's voice as he closed his transmission.

"Shadow, please tell me your still willing to help me," said Rouge. Shadow frowned before switching on his communicator.

"You made your problems. I don't have time to waste cleaning up your messes," said Shadow. Suddenly, a new voice came over the watch.

"You can't leave us here Shadow," said another female's voice on the watch. His frown turning to surprise, he keyed his watch again.

"Who in the world is that with you?" he asked.

"Remember that echidna girl that we ran into when we first got here?" asked Rouge.

"Don't tell me she's the reason you screwed up," said Shadow, his frown returning.

"That doesn't matter at the moment," snapped Rouge.

"Please Shadow, don't blame Rouge for our situation. I'm to blame for it," said Angel. Shadow paused at hearing that. "Listen to me Shadow. Blame me if you want to for what happened to Rouge, but don't let her die because of something I did." Shadow turned to look back towards the direction of the base. "If you don't want to save me, then fine, but don't let your innocent friend die like this." Shadow suddenly went wide eyed at hearing that comment.

 _She_ is _innocent for what happened, just like Maria was. I failed to protect Maria...But I'll be damned before I let another innocent friend die because of me,_ thought Shadow. Coming back to reality, Shadow quickly looked at his watch. Three and a half minutes remained till the bomb was set to blow. He then keyed his watch.

"Rouge. Is the green emerald amongst the ones you have?" asked Shadow.

"Yes. It was the final one in the vault that I found. Why?" asked Rouge.

"Good. I promise I'm coming back. Be ready to give me that emerald the instant I get there. We don't have any time left," said Shadow as he started skating off in the direction of the base.

August 25, 2323 11:34

Sonic raced through the forest surrounding the base, beginning to wonder if he had indeed missed his chance to catch Shadow. He was about to give up when he noticed a black object go whizzing by him about thirty yards in front of him heading back in the direction of the base. Smiling, Sonic sped up as he quickly got in front of the object as it skidded to a stop. Shadow's face scowled as he stared down the same hedgehog he ran into the night before. _It's that blue hedgehog again, of all places,_ he thought.

"Well well. Looks like I finally found you ya big faker," said Sonic, a smile plastered on his muzzle. Shadow's scowl only turned into a smirk at hearing that comment.

"Faker? I think you have it backwards my furry blue friend. I think you're the one who's faking around here," said Shadow. "In fact, I'm certain your nowhere near good enough to fake being me." Now it was Sonic's turn to frown.

"You're really confident you're better than me. But I don't see a Chaos Emerald with you this time, which means you can't use that little teleport trick to get away from me like before," said Sonic, crossing his arms over his chest. Shadow only chuckled slightly at this.

"I don't need a Chaos Emerald to use Chaos Control. I can activate it just by using the chaos energy in the air around us," said Shadow.

"Even if that's true, using that trick just proves that you don't have the guts to face me in a fair fight cause you know you'd lose," said Sonic. Shadow's frown returned at hearing Sonic insult him.

"Alright. You want a fair fight, I'll give you a fair fight," said Shadow. "I won't use Chaos Control at all nor will I use any of my energy attacks. Fair enough for you?" Sonic smiled at hearing that.

"Perfectly fair. Prepare to get your butt kicked Shadow," said Sonic as he readied himself, setting the handheld radio on the ground. "How about I lead off this little scrap?" Shadow merely smiled at the suggestion.

"By all means," replied Shadow. Now it was Sonic's turn to smile.

"Don't blink then," said Sonic. Suddenly a loud sonic boom sounded, followed instantly by a surprised Shadow being sent flying by a supersonic punch courtesy of Sonic. Shadow grunted as he landed hard on his back, getting to a sitting position as fast as he could as he raised a hand up to his now throbbing and surprised face.

"So. Still think you're better than me?" asked Sonic with a big smirk on his face. _How did he move that fast!? I never dreamed he'd be that quick! I barely managed to see it coming, but not with enough time to react since I wasn't on guard,_ thought Shadow. Flipping back to his feet, Shadow lowered his hand from his face as it curled into a fist.

"Okay...I'll admit that your speed surprised me. You held back the last time we met, so I didn't think you could move that fast," said Shadow.

"You won't find anyone faster," said Sonic.

"Perhaps. Now if you don't mind, I'd like my turn to take a shot at you," said Shadow as he got into his own set position. Sonic merely smiled as he held his arms out to his sides.

"Go right ahead," said Sonic. Shadow merely smirked, then shot from his spot as he set off a sonic boom of his own. He connected his fist solidly with Sonic's face this time, sending the cerulean hedgehog flying onto his back just as Sonic had done to him. This time it was Sonic to have a shocked look on his face as he sat back up.

"Are you so sure of your speed now?" asked Shadow, a smile on his face as he reset his stance. _Who the heck is this guy!? No one's_ ever _been able to catch me off guard like that when it comes to speed!_ _Not even Mecha moves that fast!_ thought Sonic as he rose to his feet.

"Okay. Obviously we're a lot similar than I initially thought. Doesn't mean you can beat me," said Sonic.

"Funny. I was thinking the same thing," said Shadow. Both of them shot from there spots again at each other, both now fully aware of how dangerous the other was.

August 25, 2323 11:36

Back in the vault, Rouge winced as Angel lightly inspected her broken wing, taking care to not touch or move it anymore than she needed too.

"Well...I'm no doctor, but I'd say it's broken clean in two right in the middle of the main bone on the top of the wing. We'll have to get it into a splint and bandaged as soon as we can," said Angel as she looked over the wing.

"Well, that's not the news I wanted to hear," said Rouge. She glanced down at her watch, seeing that there was only a minute left till the bomb was set to blow. "Where is he? Shadow should've made it back here long before now."

"He'll be here," said Angel, looking up at the hole in the ceiling. "I know he will."

* * *

Sonic and Shadow stood five meters apart from each other, both of them panting slightly. The battle had been going on with both of them gaining no advantage over the other. _This hedgehog isn't the pushover I thought him to be,_ they each thought to themselves.

"Alright Shadow. I've been saving a special move, mainly cause I haven't used it on a living person yet and don't know what kind of damage it will do," said Sonic. Shadow raised an eyebrow in interest.

"Really? Well, if you hope to beat me you'll have to do better than you've been doing," said Shadow.

"Alright then. Don't say I didn't warn you," said Sonic. He then curled into a spindash as he started gathering chaos energy from the air around him. His body started to glow bright blue as he spun in place. Shadow only watched with his mouth open in awe as he watched Sonic perform the maneuver. Uncurling, Sonic noticed the shocked look on Shadow's face. A smile spread on his own muzzle as he thought the black hedgehog had no idea what he had just done.

"What's the matter Shadow? You look a little surprised," said Sonic. Shadow closed his mouth in response to the question.

"I suppose I am. But I think you're the one who's about to be more surprised," said Shadow. Suddenly, he curled into his own spindash as he too started gathering energy from the air around him. Now it was Sonic's turn to gape in awe at what he was seeing. _How on Mobius is he able to mimic my spindash!? As far as I knew, I was the only mobian capable of using that ability,_ thought Sonic to himself as he watched Shadow finish gathering his own energy. The black hedgehog uncurled from his spindash as he too now had a bright blue glow to his body.

"How did you learn to do that?" asked Sonic.

"I was born able to do it," said Shadow. "Now then, let's see which of us has more mastery over this ability." With that, he got into a set position. Sonic followed suit, but he had a nervous look about him. _The way he talks he's been able to perform a Light Speed Attack for a long time while I learned it only a few months ago. I just have to hope he's as new to fighting someone with the same abilities as I am,_ thought Sonic. Suddenly, Shadow's watch communicator started going off.

"I don't know where you are Shadow, but whatever you're doing stop it! Get off the island right now before it blows up with you on it!" shouted Eggman's voice over the watch.

"Did he say 'blows up'!?" cried Sonic, his blue glow fading as his concentration was broken by the news. Shadow's own glow vanished as he glanced down at the watch, which showed only thirty seconds left till the bomb went off.

"Consider yourself lucky, blue hedgehog. Seems fate has spared you for now, assuming you can get off the island in the next twenty five seconds," said Shadow. He then leapt away from Sonic before taking off at full speed in the direction of the base.

"Oh not good," said Sonic before he scooped up the radio, keying it as soon as it was up to his mouth. "Tails! Please tell me Angel's back with you!"

"No she's not. Why? What happened?" asked Tails, sensing the worry in his best friend's voice.

"Eggman set the island to blow up! That's why the base evacuated!" cried Sonic as he looked back in the direction of the base. He had no idea where at on the island Angel was and having less than twenty seconds left to search _and_ get back to Tails meant there was only one thing he could do. Turning towards the northeast, he took off as fast as his feet could carry him.

"Tails...I'm coming back. Have the Tornado ready to go as soon as I get there," said Sonic.

"But what about Angel?" asked Tails, hoping Sonic wasn't about to say what he thought he would.

"I'm sorry...There's no time to look for her. Even I can't check everywhere in that amount of time _and_ make it back to you before that bomb goes off," said Sonic, grief heavy in his voice.

"I understand...I'll have the Tornado ready to fly the moment you get here," said Tails, his own voice wavering slightly. _I'm sorry Angel...I wish I didn't have to leave you to this fate,_ thought Sonic.

* * *

Rouge glanced down at her watch, fear now gripping her as the final ten seconds started to count down.

"He won't make it," said Rouge, looking over at Angel. But the echidna didn't have a hint of fear in her eyes, causing Rouge to wonder if the echidna had lost it or not.

"He _will_ make it," said Angel as the eight second mark reached. Rouge returned her gaze up to the ceiling. As the five second mark hit, movement caught the bat's eyes as the figure of Shadow dropped through the hole. He landed on the floor as the four second mark hit.

"Emerald! Now!" shouted Shadow. Rouge instantly replied as she tossed him the green emerald. Shadow caught the gem as the two second mark hit, the jewel's inner glow growing brighter the instant it touched Shadow's hand.

"Chaos Control!" shouted Shadow as a flash of light burst forth from him and the Chaos Emerald.

* * *

Back outside, Sonic and Tails could only watch as the Tornado sped away from the island as a giant explosion suddenly erupted from the island's base. The explosions rippled across its surface as everything on the island was caught in the expanding blast radius.

"No...Angel!" shouted Tails as he watched the carnage unfold. Sonic could only close his eyes as they started watering, realizing he'd never see the fiery, brave, and honorable echidna ever again. _Farewell, Angel Starfire...May the spirits guide you back to your friends and family_ , thought Sonic as he turned to face forward again as he opened his eyes.

"You'll pay for this Eggman. And you as well Shadow. I swear it," whispered Sonic to himself as the coastline of Zephyr City started to come into view.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

August 25, 2323 11:37

The eerie quiet that encompassed the space colony ARK was shattered as a flash of light exploded in the main control room. The sound of three soft thuds echoed through the room as the light died down almost instantly revealing Shadow, Rouge, and Angel now in the light's place.

"How about you cut it a little closer next time!" shouted Rouge angrily before hissing and wincing as she unintentionally moved her broken wing slightly. Shadow only glanced back at her, but otherwise remained quiet.

"Where are we?" asked Angel, looking around the control room in amazement.

"We're aboard the space colony ARK," said Shadow, returning his attention forward. He then activated his watch communicator. "Doctor. Rouge and I are now in the ARK's main control room."

"And the Chaos Emeralds?" asked Eggman's voice.

"We have them, as well as a special guest of honor for the front row seat to our demonstration later this evening," said Shadow as he took the other two emeralds from Rouge.

"Please tell me you knocked that spiny blue pest into next year and have him with you," said Eggman.

"Not exactly," said Shadow, turning back around to face the two girls. "It's that echidna girl we ran into outside the base."

"Why in the world would you bring her with you?" asked Eggman.

"She'll make a good bargaining chip if the need arises," said Shadow. Rouge looked stunned by Shadow's statement, but Angel remained completely calm at hearing this.

"I suppose a hostage is never a bad thing. I'll head back to my base now and meet up with you in a few hours," said Eggman.

"Alright. I'll place the emeralds into the cannon in the meantime. I estimate it should be ready for our demonstration in a little over six hours since its been siphoning energy from our original three overnight," said Shadow.

"Excellent. The world is in for quite a shock tonight. Let's just hope they get the message loud and clear," said Eggman.

"I have no doubt they will," said Shadow, cutting the transmission. He then looked over at Angel. "As for you, I will allow you to wander at your leisure. However, if you make any attempts to flee ARK or contact the world below, you will answer to me. And trust me, you don't want that to happen."

"Fine. For now, can you take us to a medical facility assuming there's one here? I need to get Rouge's wing into a splint as soon as possible," said Angel.

"Find it yourself," said Shadow as he turned towards the exit and starting walking in its direction. "I have more important things to do." Angel scowled at him even though the black hedgehog would never see it as he walked out of the room.

"Don't worry," said a voice from Angel's shorts pocket. Realizing the Nicole was still in her pocket, Angel took the mini computer out and flipped her open. Instantly, Nicole projected her lynx image a few feet in front of the two girls. "I can easily download a schematic of the ARK and find it for you in no time."

"Thanks Nicole," said Angel.

"Yes. Thank you," said Rouge.

"Not a problem," replied Nicole with a smile. A thought then crossed her mind. "Do you want me to try and establish a communications line with the radio in the Tornado?"

"Can you broadcast to it from this far away by yourself?" asked Angel.

"No. However, if I were to use the ARK's communications equipment it would be a simple task," said Nicole.

"Then no. Shadow is obviously not someone to take lightly and right now it's best not to get on his bad side by trying something like that," said Angel. "That'll be our trump card if things get too hairy and it becomes worth the risk."

"Alright," said Nicole. She then perked up as she finished downloading the ARK's schematics. "And I just found the medical bay. I'll lead you to it."

August 25 2323, 11:45

Sonic stood transfixed on the ocean at the edge of Zephyr City where Tails had landed the Tornado. Already the two tailed fox was conveying everything that had happened out on the island back to Sally.

"And that's why...why we had to leave her behind..." said Tails solemnly into the Tornado's radio.

"I see...It was unavoidable. There was nothing you could've done," said Sally's voice sadly over the radio. "I suppose it's a small bright side to this whole ordeal, but the president has gotten confirmation from one of G.U.N.'s own top generals confirming that the organization's commander planned to kill Sonic. The same general also reported that the commander and his top generals were hiding a major secret from the world, but I don't know the details. It's under wraps pending an investigation."

"What about Sonic's charges of bank robbery and working with Eggman?" asked Tails.

"They've been lifted. The general provided proof that someone named Shadow is the real culprit working with Eggman," said Sally.

"That's good," said Sonic, his gaze still locked on the ocean. "It means we won't have the law enforcements or G.U.N. breathing down our necks during all of this. And I swear when they show themselves again, I'll bring them both down for what they've done." Suddenly, a new voice came over the Tornado's radio.

"What who has done?" asked Comet's voice, though it was a ways from the receiver so it barely came over the radio, but it was enough to alert Tails to the small chao's presence.

"Uh...Did she just now walk into the room?" asked Tails.

"Who walked into the room?" asked Sonic, finally breaking his gaze as he turned with a questioning look back towards Tails.

"Comet I think," said Tails

"Are you sure?" asked Sonic, his eyes going wide. Wondering what the big deal was, Tails keyed the radio again.

"Hey Sally. Was that Comet we just heard?" asked Tails.

"Yes. She wandered in just as Sonic finished his last sentence. I was about to tell her what happened, but maybe you should be the one to tell her Sonic," said Sally. Suddenly Sonic gave a cry of happiness as he jumped fifteen feet off the ground and threw a fist into the air. Landing, he quickly took the receiver from Tails grasp, who was staring at the blue hedgehog with a look of shock on his face.

"Oh Comet, hearing you is the best thing that's happened all day!" shouted Sonic into the radio.

"Uh...okay...Why is that?" asked the small chao.

"Because it means Angel's still alive!" said Sonic happily.

"Of course she is. I won't be alive myself if she wasn't since any chao bonded with someone dies at the same time they do. So what's going on to even bring that up?" asked Comet, now wondering what in the world was going on. But instead Sally's voice came back over the radio.

"But if she's alive, how did she get off the island?" asked Sally.

"I'll bet Shadow did it," said Sonic, a smile still on his face. "I suppose I owe him one now."

"That may be true, but remember he's the one that got you into this mess in the first place," said Tails.

"I know. Doesn't mean I won't at least thank him for saving her though next time I see him," said Sonic. "Now then, if she's with Shadow, I'm guessing that means she's with Eggman. Not the best place to be, but I know she can hold her own until we find them."

"I'm sure she will after hearing about her taking on Leviathan all alone," said Sally.

"But we still don't have a clue where Eggman is holed up at the moment," said Tails. Sonic merely shrugged.

"Who knows? But knowing Egghead, he'll show himself soon enough now that he has a new scheme in the works. And once he shows himself, we've got him," said Sonic.

August 25, 2323 12:11

"Ow! Be careful!" shouted Rouge angrily as Angel tended to her broken wing as the two of them sat on the floor of the medical bay. Luckily for the bat, the medical bay had still retained all its amenities despite no one being aboard the colony for nearly fifty years. After a short look through the supplies, Angel had found what she needed to patch up her wing till she could see a real doctor.

"I'm sorry...I haven't had a chance to practice my first aid skills in a long time," said Angel softly as she started to wrap the bandage around the splint again. She tried to go as slow and gentle as she could to make it less painful, but it wasn't helping much. The bone was cleanly broken in two, so any pressure applied gripped Rouge with pain.

"It's alright...I'm just a little on edge, what with a total stranger patching me up like this," said Rouge. Angel merely smiled, recognizing her old edginess in the bat that she had all but lost now after all her time in this timeline.

"Trust me, I know what that's like," said Angel, keeping the softness in her voice.

"So, you know my name. What's yours?" asked Rouge, wincing again as a sharp pain shot through her wing again.

"Sorry...My name's Angel Starfire," said Angel.

"Nice name," said Rouge. Here, the bat lowered her head slightly. "And sorry to get you mixed up in all of this."

"It's fine. I'm just glad we're safe," said Angel, continuing to wrap the bandages around the bat's wing. "But you won't convince me for a moment that you're on Eggman's side." Hearing that, Rouge finally turned her head back around to look at the echidna.

"What makes you say that?" asked Rouge.

"Because no one that would work for Eggman would've come to my aid like you did back at that base," said Angel. Rouge looked a little stunned, but it faded fairly fast.

"I suppose you're right," said Rouge finally. She then faced forward again. "But how could you tell so easily?"

"I've seen deception at its pinnacle. You're acting isn't anywhere near what I've witnessed," said Angel.

"Really? I've lied through my teeth for the last five years. I thought I was a master at it by now," said Rouge.

"Trust me. Compared to Leviathan, you are like a child acting in a school play," said Angel.

"This Leviathan person must've been the best con man ever the way you make him out to be," said Rouge. At this Angel's happy demeanor turned sour.

"If by 'con man' you mean the world's cruelest, most manipulating tyrant ever seen, then you'd be right," said Angel. Now Rouge's attention was fully captured by that statement.

"Tyrant? What planet do you come from? Eggman's been the only tyrant I've known about since I was born and you don't look any older than I am," said Rouge curiously. Here Angel hesitated.

"Well...I don't usually be this up front about my past with someone I just met," said Angel nervously.

"Why? It can't be as bad as mine is," said Rouge. Now it was Angel's turn to have her curiosity piqued.

"I highly doubt that," said Angel as she finished the final layer of bandages. "And done."

"Thanks, but don't dodge the question," said Rouge as she stood back up, turning around to face Angel as she stood up herself.

"Tell you what. If you tell me your past, I promise to tell you mine," said Angel. Rouge frowned at the suggestion.

"Like I'd believe you for a second at holding that promise," said Rouge, which in turn caused Angel to frown.

"Don't just dismiss a promise that I or any other echidna makes to you. I'll have you know that to us a promise is the greatest form of honor someone can bestow to another," said Angel.

"You're kidding me, right?" asked Rouge, half closing her eyes and putting her hands on her hips.

"Why do you think I believed without a doubt that Shadow would come back after he promised he would?" asked Angel. Rouge opened her eyes fully again as she recalled the look of absolute confidence in Angel's eyes even in the last few seconds leading up to Shadow making it to them.

"You're serious, aren't you?" asked Rouge.

"As serious as a heart attack," said Angel. Rouge looked away, closing her eyes fully this time.

"Still...I'd rather not share my past with you. It's still too painful to me," said Rouge softly.

"Telling someone else who's willing to listen to you can help lift that pain," said Angel.

"How would you know? You haven't had to deal with the things I dealt with when I was younger," hissed Rouge as she glared at Angel. But the echidna merely sighed in response.

"I know because Sonic listened to me tell of my past. And when I was finished telling him everything, I felt a great cloud that had been hanging over my head since I was only a kid be lifted from me," said Angel. She then motioned for Rouge to retake her seat on the floor as she herself did. The bat was hesitant at first, but complied after a few seconds.

"Why did we sit back down?" asked Rouge as soon as they were seated again.

"Because I'm going to tell you of my past. Maybe hearing me tell of my dark past will show you that I'm willing to listen to you tell yours," said Angel.

"Okay. But first can I ask Nicole to do something in the meantime?" asked Rouge.

"Of course you can," said Nicole as her lynx form appeared, sitting on the ground next to the two girls. Angel had set her physical self on a nearby table, well within her holographic software's projection range.

"There's a weapon aboard the ARK that Eggman's planning to use soon called the Eclipse Cannon. Do you think you can shut it down from here?" asked Rouge.

"To be honest, I won't know till I try. Might take me a little bit of time though," said Nicole.

"That's fine. My story will take a little while. Do you think you'll know by the time we're done talking?" asked Angel.

"I should know by then. Do you want me to wait till you're done to reappear?" asked Nicole.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd wait till then. Thanks," said Angel. Nicole just smiled and nodded before her body vanished. Angel then took in a deep breathe and exhaled slowly before she turned towards Rouge. "As you asked yourself, 'what planet do I come from'? The truth is I'm from an alternate timeline. One where Mobius was nearly destroyed by a mecha bot by the name of Leviathan."

* * *

Deep in the heart of the space colony, Shadow smiled as he placed the sixth Chaos Emerald within the Eclipse Cannon's power core. _It's nearly done Maria. Soon, I'll have avenged your death. Just as the professor instructed me to do the last time I saw him before they sealed me inside that cryo pod._

"But still...that blue hedgehog I fought with on Prison Island might present a problem. The professor once told me I was unique amongst the mobians that walked the surface. Yet he was matching me move for move when I fought him without using my powers," said Shadow to himself as he turned back around and walked towards the doorway leading out of the cannon's control room.

"There's something special about that hedgehog. What it is I can't say for sure, but I want our paths to cross again before this is all over. And if they do, I will not hold back like I did on that island. I'll prove he's not my equal," said Shadow.

August 25 2323, 2:21

"And that's when I parted company with Sonic and his friends. I've yet to discover my purpose in this world, but I know its out there somewhere," said Angel as she finished telling her tale to Rouge. The bat had listened intently, her amazement at what Angel had suffered through since the death of her family and friends only growing the longer Angel told her story.

"Okay hun...You officially beat my past for which one was darker," said Rouge, looking at the floor and shaking her head slowly back and forth.

"So will you share it with me now?" asked Angel.

"I'm still not sure if I want to tell it or not. I told myself a long time ago that I never wanted another soul to know," said Rouge. She then looked up into Angel's eyes. This time, the echidna saw no fear in them. Rather, they looked more uncertain than anything.

"I'm not forcing you to tell me Rouge," said Angel softly. "But I do know it'll make you feel a lot better if you tell it to a friend you trust. I'd like to be that friend for you."

"Why would you want to be my friend?" asked Rouge.

"Because I know what it's like to be lonely out in the world. For a decade my only friend was Comet. And even though I cared for her deeply, I shut her out and rarely treated her like a friend. When I met Sonic and his friends, I shunned them as well. But once I allowed myself to lower my guard, I realized I wasn't alone anymore," said Angel.

"It must've been hard to lower your guard after all that time," said Rouge.

"It was one of the most difficult things I had ever done in my life up to that point," admitted Angel. "But once I did drop it, I felt foolish for leaving my guard up for all those years. I never vocalized it with anyone, but that's how I felt."

"Maybe it's finally time I did lower my defenses to someone," said Rouge. She then sighed heavily as Angel reached a hand out and grasp one of the bat's own hands in hers.

"If it helps you to do it, I promise I won't tell anyone else about your past if you share it with me," said Angel. Rouge smiled weakly at hearing that.

"I'd...appreciate that. Still can't believe I'm about to tell this to someone I just met..." she mused under her breath.

"Take your time," said Angel.

"My father...was a terrible man. As far back as I can remember, he abused my mother. Hitting her, yelling at her, everything you can think of for domestic violence," said Rouge.

"Did he ever hit you?" asked Angel.

"Not at first," said Rouge.

"How old were you when he started to?" asked Angel.

"I think I was four or five maybe. I've shut out most of that time from my mind so I don't really remember for sure anymore," said Rouge. "But my mother would always comfort me afterwards, which is the only thing that made it bearable."

"How long did this go on for?" asked Angel.

"A couple of years or so. Then, one night when I was about seven I...I was awakened by a loud bang," said Rouge as her voice waivered slightly. Angel instantly knew what had happened, but choose to let Rouge finish telling her herself because she knew it would be the best thing for her.

"I...I ran to my parents' room. The door was open..." said Rouge, tears starting to form in her eyes. "I...I saw my mother...lying on the floor...S-she was...was..." At this point Rouge broke down, crying into her hands. Angel scooted across the floor till she was beside the bat. She then wrapped an arm over Rouge's back, careful to not touch her broken wing in the process.

"It's never easy to lose loved ones," said Angel softly as she looked at the ground, remembering her own pain she had experienced that fateful night back in her original timeline. She waited as Rouge continued to cry for a little while longer, finally getting herself back under control a couple of minutes later.

"I'm sorry about that..." said Rouge as she gave a few sniffs and wiped her eyes again.

"Don't be. I cried just as much when I was telling Sonic of what happened to my family," said Angel.

"I just hadn't thought about that night for so long...It overwhelmed me more than I thought it would thinking of it again," said Rouge.

"So what happened after that?" asked Angel.

"I did the only thing I could think of. I ran and never looked back," said Rouge. "I later found out my father had been charged and found guilty of second degree murder. Not first degree since he had been found as not planning on actually killing my mother that night. But the conviction meant he was going to prison for the rest of his life."

"Where did you go after that night?" asked Angel curiously.

"I never stopped running really. Not for several years," said Rouge. "I went wherever I could find shelter for the night and traveled the during day."

"How did you find food and water? I can't imagine a city girl like yourself could rough it very well at that age," said Angel.

"I stole of course," said Rouge rather matter-of-factly. "With the ability to fly, police were never a concern to me. No cop is gonna shoot a kid for just stealing food and water."

"Yet I have a feeling that when you were older that stealing just food and water wasn't enough," said Angel.

"Why do you say that?" asked Rouge defensively.

"You have a shard of the Master Emerald, remember? I doubt you just happened to find that out in the middle of nowhere," said Angel.

"For your information I found it in the desert outside of Eggman's base," said Rouge angrily.

"And how did that shard get out in the desert? More importantly why were you paying that much attention to the desert floor?" asked Angel. Rouge started to say something, but stopped as she realized the echidna had asked a question she didn't have a good answer for. And it was the pause that gave away Angel's suspicions. "That's what I thought."

"Fine..." sighed Rouge as she gave into the pink furred echidna. "So I started to steal more than just food around the age of ten. Happy?"

"Enough," answered Angel. "So what did you steal?"

"Small items at first. Smart phones, wallets, stuff like that," said Rouge. "It wasn't until I was twelve that I started to rob jewelry stores."

"I could see that. Jewelry is worth a lot, after all" said Angel.

"You misunderstand," said Rouge. "I only sold enough of what I stole to get by. I kept most of the jewelry, especially if there were any gems set in them."

"And now I see why you stole the Master Emerald from Knuckles," said Angel, finally realizing Rouge's motives behind stealing the large gemstone.

"Are you kidding me? A gem that big was too tempting to pass up. Shame your echidna friend broke it though," said Rouge with a hint of sadness.

"It'll be fine assuming he finds all of its shards," said Angel. Rouge perked up a little at that statement.  
"Now that you mention it, he did say something about restoring it even if it was in pieces," said Rouge.

"But to do so means he'll need the shard you have," said Angel. "Can I please have it back?"

"No...I'd rather give it back to him myself, given the chance," said Rouge. "Sometimes...even if you want something more than anything else, its not worth it if you harm others you know. He's your friend, so what kind of friend would I be by keeping this thing? Still don't know how you knew I had it in the first place," she said as she retrieved the small shard from within her jumpsuit.

"I can sense its power radiating off it, though just barely," said Angel as she stared into its green, glassy surface.

"So what is it exactly? A big Chaos Emerald?" asked Rouge as she put the shard away again.

"Honestly, I'm not really sure myself. Comet tried to explain it to me once, but I was too young to understand at the time," said Angel. "I do remember her saying that it can control the Chaos Emeralds' power, cutting their power off from being used by anything."

"Fits in line with what that other echidna said," said Rouge.

"That beside the point, how did you end up here if you were just a common thief?" asked Angel as she realized she had gotten them off the track of Rouge's past.

"As luck would have it, I got too cocky during one robbery when I was thirteen and was knocked out by a nightstick to the back of my head. I thought the only guard was in another room. Turns out his partner had seen me enter the premises and had hid in the room while the other guard pretended to not notice I was there," said Rouge. She then smiled. "That actually turned out to be the best thing that had happened in my life up to that point."

"Because you were caught?" asked a confused Angel.

"Because they linked me to several other robberies. Not all of them, but enough. As soon as I was convicted of the robberies, I was approached by one of the president's aides just outside the courtroom. He told me that he could make all the charges go away and give me a new life working as a double agent for the president," said Rouge.

"You work for the human president!?" asked Angel, shock on her face.

"And for G.U.N. as a field operative, but I answer to the president behind their backs," said Rouge. "Now that the lid's been blown open about Shadow, I assume my time with G.U.N. is over. But I still have a mission to stop Eggman from completing his plans. I'm not going to ever fail the man who spared me a prison life," said Rouge.

"So an agent for the president? I suppose that makes you working with Eggman finally make sense," said Angel. She then looked over at the table Nicole was sitting on. "Alright Nicole. We're done." Nicole's image reappeared sitting next to the two girls.

"So what's the word? Can we shut down the Eclipse Cannon from here?" asked Rouge.

"Not from here, I'm afraid. I'd need to be at its controls to even have a chance of doing it," said Nicole.

"That shouldn't be a problem, assuming Shadow or Eggman doesn't walk in on us while we're doing it," said Rouge. She then looked over at Angel. "Mind running interference?"

"Not at all. I actually wanted to find Shadow and talk with him," said Angel.

"Why?" asked Rouge and Nicole at the same time.

"I get the feeling he's not the cold-hearted person he's acting like," said Angel. "Otherwise he wouldn't have come back for you and certainly wouldn't have saved me in the process."

"Maybe...But don't get yourself in over your head," said Rouge cautiously. "Shadow's a complete mystery even to me and Eggman. Don't go getting yourself into trouble with him by digging into his head."

"Trust me," said Angel as she stood back up, Rouge and Nicole following suit. "I can handle myself just fine."

"If you say so," said Rouge as she walked over to the nearby table and picked Nicole's physical self off of it. "Let's get this show on the road."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

August 25, 2323 3:41

Shadow walked into Maria's room aboard the ARK. A small smile appeared on his face as he saw the young girl lighting twelve candles set in a small cake sitting on her nightstand. He wondered to himself what the cake was, having never seen one before.

"What is that?" asked Shadow as he walked up next to Maria. The young blonde girl looked down at him with her own smile as she lit the last candle.

"It's my birthday cake. I did turn twelve today after all," said Maria as she blew out the match she had been using to light the candles. A small fit of coughing came from her though in response to the gesture. This caused Shadow to get a worried look on his face. He didn't like seeing Maria like this. Her illness as of late had grown worse, giving her many such fits. But Maria took it all in stride.

"I'm all right," said Maria softly after the fit had subsided.

"So...what's a birthday cake?" asked Shadow, turning his attention to the cake resting on the nightstand.

"It's to celebrate the day I was born. The number of candles on it tell you how old I turned today," said Maria.

"Which is twelve," said Shadow as he counted the candles. "Why candles anyways?"

"You make a wish and then blow them out. If you manage to blow them all out in one breath, it's supposed to make your wish come true," said Maria.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You've been having trouble breathing at times lately as it is," said Shadow.

"I'm willing to try anything to make my wish come true," said Maria. Shadow smiled at hearing that.

"Then go ahead. Blow them out," said Shadow. Maria took as deep a breath as she could without causing her cough to act up. Then she blew at the candles as hard as she could. But barely half her breath had come out before a much stronger fit of coughing gripped her, Shadow holding her as she coughed.

"I was worried that might happen," said Shadow as he helped Maria recover from her fit. Both of them looked up to see that one candle was still lit at the far end of the cake. "I'm sorry you didn't blow them all out..."

"It's alright...I still believe my wish will come true," said Maria.

"And what wish is that?" asked Shadow as he helped Maria sit down on her bed. As soon as she was seated, she smiled as she looked over at Shadow.

"That I'll be around to see your first birthday," said Maria.

"Don't talk like that," said Shadow. He then grasped Maria's hand in his. "Of course you'll be around to see my first birthday. And I'm sure your grandfather will have figured out a cure for your illness by then as well. And then I'll take you to the surface, just like I promised you I would."

"I know you will, Shadow," said Maria. "Shadow...Shadow...?"

* * *

"Shadow?" asked a female voice from behind Shadow, breaking him from his daydream as he jerked upright. Annoyance quickly crossed his face as he looked behind him to see the echidna girl he had saved looking at him from the doorway of Maria's bedroom. Seeing his response, Angel smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry...I didn't mean to scare you," said Angel. Shadow regarded her for a few more seconds before turning back to face towards the viewing window again.

"You didn't scare me," he said.

"If you say so. I've been looking for you. Mind if I come in?" asked Angel.

"Why?" he asked, suspicion laced in his voice.

"I just wanted to talk, if that's alright," answered Angel as she took a step into the room. At this, Shadow turned his head back towards her again, this time his annoyance replaced with a more curious look. Angel stopped when she saw him look back at her.

"What makes you think I want to talk?" asked Shadow.

"Rouge told me you've been in a kind of suspended animation for nearly the last fifty years. I would've thought you'd jump at the chance to talk with someone," said Angel.

"That bat's been loose with her tongue it would seem," said Shadow, a frown once again covering his brow.

"I asked her about you and she told me what she knew. Nothing wrong with that," said Angel as she walked further into the room. Looking around the living quarters, she noticed that it had traces of a young girl living in the room. This was evident by the small teddy bear resting on the bed. It was also hard to miss the comforter having a princess themed pattern on it.

"So why did you want to talk to me anyways?" asked Shadow, returning his gaze out the window again.

"Because I think you're not being honest with us," said Angel. Shadow felt a wave of nervousness sweep over him. Did she know? But he quickly collected himself before he answered her. There was no way she could possibly know that.

"Why would you think that?" asked Shadow.

"The way you act and your actions don't line up right," said Angel as she walked over to the side of the bed. "If you were really as cold as your trying to come off towards others, you wouldn't have come back to save Rouge just because I asked you to. And you certainly wouldn't have saved my life as well."

"I came back to get the Chaos Emeralds. You two just happened to get caught in my Chaos Control is all," said Shadow. But Angel didn't hear him, her attention being drawn to the picture resting on the nightstand at the head of the bed. Walking over to it, she picked it up to get a closer look. In it, she saw Shadow sitting on the same bed with a young blonde girl in a blue night gown.

"Who's in this picture with you?" asked Angel, her curiosity getting the better of her even though she was worried the question would bring trouble. Shadow looked back over at her, his eyes going wide as he realized what it was Angel was holding.

"Put that down!" he shouted at her, causing Angel to softly set the picture back on the nightstand.

"I'm sorry," she said as she stepped away from the nightstand. Realizing he had snapped at her, Shadow gave a soft sigh. Closing his eyes, he returned to facing out the window again.

"I'm...sorry I yelled..." said Shadow softly. "That picture is the last thing I have left to remember Maria by." Angel looked back at the picture again.

"That's the name of the girl in the photo?" asked Angel.

"Yes. She was my best friend," said Shadow. "The only true friend I had when I lived here."

"This photo's fifty years old, isn't it?" asked Angel as she took another look at the photo. She then looked over at Shadow. "Is she still alive?"

"No. She isn't," said Shadow flatly.

"I'm sorry," said Angel as she walked over next to Shadow to look out the window beside him. This caused Shadow to look over at her, his face one of anger.

"You aren't sorry. You didn't even know her. You don't have a clue how she died, so how could you be sorry? And you should quit prying at something that is none of your business," he said angrily.

"I didn't mean to offend you Shadow," said Angel, glancing over at him. "You're right. I didn't know her. I don't know how she died. But that doesn't mean I can't offer you my condolences." Shadow just huffed and returned his attention back out the window.

"Whatever. Why don't you go bother the bat for a while," said Shadow coldly.

"I'll leave if you want me to. But are you sure you want that?" asked Angel, this time fully turning her head to look at him.

"Get out," said Shadow with the same coldness. Angel lowered her head slightly, then turned and started walking towards the doorway. Halfway there, she turned back around to face Shadow.

"If you ever want to talk, just know that I'll listen," said Angel softly.

"I said get out!" he shouted at her as he turned around to face her again, fury etched into his face. His finger pointing at the doorway to emphasize his stance was clear enough of a message to the echidna. Angel merely shook her head softly before turning and walking out of the room. Shadow watched her leave, then returned his attention to the window again. _She doesn't really care. How could she? She's just trying to confuse me. I won't be swayed from my goal. Not now,_ he thought as he turned back around and stared down at the world below.

* * *

"I thought you said hacking into this thing would be easy?" asked Rouge with annoyance as she stood next to the Eclipse Cannon's controls. Nicole was connected to it wirelessly, attempting to bypass the cannon's security. Already she had been at it for over an hour, with Rouge getting more nervous with every minute that passed.

"I'm sorry. I honestly didn't think this thing's security would be this tight with it being fifty years old," said Nicole's voice from her physical self. "It makes Prison Island's encryptions look like a two year old designed them."

"Just hurry. We don't know how long Angel can keep Shadow's attention if she can even keep it at all. And there's no telling when Eggman will be back," said Rouge.

"I know. I'm on the last layer of security. Should be any second now...and...there!" cried Nicole.

"So shut this thing down and let's get out of here," said Rouge.

"Hold on...What in the world is this program I'm seeing?" asked Nicole.

"What program? I thought you got through the last of the security?" asked Rouge, wondering what the AI was talking about.

"I did. So I don't know exactly what this thing is for," said Nicole. "Whatever this program is, its level of encryption makes what I just cracked look severely inferior in design.

"So we ignore it and shut down the cannon," said Rouge.

"Wait a second. If we ignore this program and shut down the cannon, whatever this thing is could have severe consequences for doing it," said Nicole.

"Such as?" asked Rouge.

"Could be nothing at all or it could be something as bad as the colony self destructing. I can't tell till I crack it, but I'm almost afraid to try its so heavily encrypted," said Nicole.

"Yeah...Self destructing the colony would be bad..." said Rouge nervously. "If you did take a crack at decrypting it, how long do you think it'll take?"

"Judging by this encryption, days at least. Which we obviously don't have," said Nicole.

"This is bad...If we do shut down the cannon, we could potentially destroy the colony and us with it. But if we do nothing, then Eggman has the most dangerous weapon in the world in his hands," said Rouge.

"As much as I hate saying it, I think we have to let him have it in his hands for now," said Nicole.

"You're right...Eggman's not genocidal. He wouldn't dare fire the cannon at the planet. Not if he wants to take it over," said Rouge.

"We just have to hope that's the case," said Nicole. Rouge sighed as she reached down and picked Nicole back up off the control board.

"Alright. Let's get out of here before we're spotted," said Rouge as she pocket Nicole. But as she turned to walk out of the room, she felt a ball of ice take residence in her stomach. Walking in her direction from the far side of the small bridge leading from the room's entrance to the cannon's controls was none other than Eggman.

"What are you doing in here Rouge?" asked Eggman as he started walking towards the bat. Rouge almost panicked, thinking she'd been caught. But when she realized the doctor looked curious, not angry, she knew her cover hadn't been blown.

"Who me? I was just admiring the emeralds, that's all," said Rouge as she quickly thought up as best a lie as she could on the spot. "You of all people should know I love gems. You saw me fighting with that echidna over the Master Emerald after all."

"Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing you with that annoying echidna when I tried to steal the Master Emerald from him," said Eggman as he reached her. "But just because you love gems, don't think for a second I'm going to hand any of the Chaos Emeralds over to you."

"I know that Eggy. We need them in the cannon to power it anyways. Doesn't mean a girl can't look but not touch," said Rouge.

"Well, be sure you don't touch them. Otherwise I'll have Shadow make sure you keep your thieving hands to yourself," said Eggman. He then walked around Rouge and up to the controls. "We're at fifty three percent power now. Shadow's estimates of being ready around six o'clock wasn't that far off."

"What exactly are you planning to do at six?" asked Rouge. Eggman merely smiled at the question.

"You think I'd spoil the surprise that easily? Let's just say this world will be rocked by what I'm planning. And the world's leaders better be paying close attention," said Eggman.

"If you say so," said Rouge, now more nervous about what Eggman was planning than ever before. She then started walking out of the control room. "I think I'm gonna go find that echidna we picked up along the way. She's definitely better company than Shadow's been with me."

"If you insist on fraternizing with Sonic's friends, that's your own business. Just don't forget she's supposed to be a hostage," said Eggman.

"Yeah, I know," said Rouge as she walked out of the room, breaking into a run as soon as she had cleared Eggman's line of sight.

* * *

"So how are you positive you know Eggman will do this?" asked Tails as he continued to fiddle with the circuitry inside of President Quinn's personal communications satellite on top of his private residence. Sonic and Sally were with him while Comet was in the residence below, the group having rejoined at this location at Sonic's request.

"Because I know Eggman like the back of my hand," said Sonic with a smile. "He'll be eager to get a hold of the president to demand his surrender once whatever he's doing gets going. Trust me."

"Even if he does, don't you think he'd be expecting a tracking bug in the communications software?" asked Sally as she looked over at the smiling hedgehog.

"Probably, but he'll be so set on delivering his demands as soon as possible I doubt he'll give it a second thought," said Sonic. The sound of the roof door opening drew everyone but Tails' attention.

"How is everything going up here?" asked President Quinn as he walked out onto the flat roof.

"Should be done anytime now, sir," said Tails without looking up from his work.

"Good. I'll feel much better once we can track down where Eggman's hiding. And I'll be relieved if we can regain contact with my undercover agent," said Quinn.

"So you've heard nothing from her since Prison Island?" asked Sally.

"Nothing at all. The problem at the moment is her communications device was linked to the Prison Island's communications grid. When the base was destroyed, our only connection to her was lost," said Quinn.

"Speaking of this agent, you never told us her name. Might help to know it if we run into her when we go charging into Eggman's base to stop him," said Sonic.

"You're right. That would be helpful information. Her name's Rouge the Bat," said Quinn. Hearing that, Sonic cocked an eyebrow.

"'The Bat'?" asked Sonic. "Suppose that gives away her mobian race, but why the whole 'the Bat' thing? Doesn't she have a last name?"

"You're one to talk Sonic Hedgehog," said Sally, giving him a stare.

"Hey, I only took that name from Uncle Chuck," said Sonic. Suddenly, he had a worried look on his face right after saying that. This instantly caught Sally's attention.

"Wait a second...What do you mean you only took your last name from Sir Charles? I thought you were related to him," she said. Sonic's worried look instantly become one of complete seriousness.

"I'm only going to say this once, Sally. Drop it," said Sonic sternly. This reaction caused Sally to blink her eyes a bit, worry now taking her over. Meanwhile, Quinn decided it was time to leave the mobians alone and retreated back to the doorway, closing it behind him.

"What in the world has gotten into you Sonic?" asked Sally.

"I don't want to talk about it. It's extremely personal," said Sonic, looking away from her.

"Sonic...I see that whatever this personal thing is, it's bothering you like I've rarely seen something bother you before," said Sally as she walked over to him and gently pulled his head back towards her. "You know I will always listen and never judge you regardless of what it is."

"I know Sal, it's just..." said Sonic, stumbling over what to say. He tried for a few seconds to add to the beginning of his statement. But he gave up quickly after realizing he had nothing else to add. He then closed his eyes and sighed, shaking his head.

"Is it really that bad?" asked Sally. Sonic opened his eyes again and looked into Sally's.

"I honestly don't know if it's bad or not," said Sonic.

"Then promise you'll tell me when this is all over. Good or bad, tell me about it," said Sally. Sonic hesitated for a few seconds, then gave a nod.

"Alright Sal. I promise we'll discuss this after we stop Eggman," said Sonic.

"And done!" cried Tails as he looked up from the communications satellite. Both Sonic and Sally looked at one another, each asking the same unspoken question before they both looked back at a smiling Tails.

"Uh...did you hear anything we just talked about Tails?" asked Sonic. Tails smile started to fade.

"No...Was I supposed to hear it? Because I was too focused on that last part I didn't hear anything you guys have said since the President came out on the roof," said Tails. Sonic cracked a weak smile at hearing that.

"No...no you didn't miss anything important. Great job on finishing that tracking bug so fast," said Sally. The last bit of Tails smile instantly turned to confusion, worrying both the other mobians.

"Trust me, you missed nothing at all big guy. And now that you finished, we'll find Eggman and shut him and Shadow down for good," said Sonic, giving him a much bigger smile. This returned Tails' own smile as he gave a solid nod of his head, Sonic thankful he had managed to shake Tails' suspicions.

August 25, 2323 17:32

Angel and Rouge sat at one of many tables that filled the ARK's food court, eating their dinner as they talked. They had found several MREs in the emergency food stores and had happily helped themselves to them. They had both wondered if they were still any good after fifty years, but surprisingly the expiration dates on them were still good for another three years.

"It's not the worst thing I've had before," said Angel as she took another bite of her meal.

"If you say so," said Rouge as she swallowed her current bite.

"Trust me, when you eat an unripe jurby berry you will eat anything else before tasting that again," said Angel. Rouge just smirked at hearing that as she took another bite of her own meal.

"What are you two doing in here?" asked a voice from the food court's doorway. The two girls looked over at the doorway to see Shadow standing there.

"Eating dinner, what does it look like?" said Rouge sarcastically.

"You should join us Shadow. I'll bet you haven't eaten since we got back," said Angel.

"I'm not hungry," said Shadow as he stood in the doorway. Suddenly, a rather loud growl came from Shadow's stomach, instantly causing Angel to give him a smirk.

"Oh sure, you're not hungry," said Angel as she got up from her seat. Rouge watched as Angel made her way over to the black hedgehog. She wondered what the echidna was going to do as she walked up next to him.

"Come and eat with us. We won't bite," said Angel as she grabbed Shadow's arm and started to pull him in the direction of the table. Shadow instantly got an uncomfortable look on his face and jerked his arm out of Angel's hand.

"I said I'm _not_ hungry!" he said in a much louder voice. Angel's face turned into a scowl.

"Alright Shadow. Then tell me when the last time you had anything to eat was," said Angel. Shadow instantly turned around and started walking out of the room. But a quick grasp of one of his quills by Angel stopped him.

"I'm being serious Shadow. It's not healthy to skip a meal, even if its not the best tasting thing," said Angel as she pulled him by his quill back to her. _She's still acting like she cares! Why is she still messing with me like this!?_ thought Shadow as he turned back around to face her again. Angel's scowl faded as her face took on a much softer look.

"I know you don't like being around others. I was the same way for years, so trust me I know what it feels like to be alone," said Angel.

"You couldn't understand what being alone truly is," said Shadow. At this, Angel's soft demeanor instantly switched to one of anger.

"Don't you _dare_ tell _me_ that _I_ have no idea what it means to truly be alone!" she yelled at him, causing Shadow to instantly take a step back in surprise by her outburst. But as soon as she finished saying it, she quickly composed herself again. "I'm sorry...But being truly alone...I know what its like, so don't ever say to me that I don't know."

"She's telling the truth Shadow," said Rouge, finally adding her own commentary to the scene unfolding in front of her. Shadow glanced over at Rouge, then back at Angel.

"I'm...sorry if I offended you," said Shadow reluctantly.

"It's alright. You didn't know," said Angel. She then turned around and started walking back towards the table. Stopping, she glanced over her shoulder at Shadow. "Are you sure you don't want to eat something?" Shadow hesitated for a few seconds, then sighed heavily.

"Fine. I'll eat something so long as it'll get you off my back," said Shadow as he walked in their direction. Angel smiled as she sat back down at their table.

"The MREs are in the back room. Find one you like and I'll help you get it cooked," said Rouge as Shadow made his way to the back room. Nearly a minute went by before he called out to the two girls.

"You do realize I have no clue what any of this stuff is, right?" he yelled at them from the room.

"Doesn't really matter Shady, they all pretty much taste the same when you get down to it," hollered Rouge back to him.

"Then what's the point in labeling them all?" he asked.

"Heck if I know sweetheart," answered Rouge. A few seconds later, Shadow walked out with one of the MREs in hand.

"This one says its something called 'pasta', whatever that is," said Shadow.

"Funny, that's the same thing I'm having," said Angel. Shadow walked over and looked at Angel's meal.

"Doesn't look very good," said Shadow as he inspected her food.

"MREs aren't supposed to taste good, they're supposed to be quick to cook and provide a lot of calories to sustain you for several hours," said Rouge as she took the MRE from Shadow. "I'll get this cooked in a few minutes." With that, Rouge retreated to the kitchen area of the food court.

"Wanna try a bite before she gets back?" asked Angel as she stirred her fork around some of the pasta, holding it up for Shadow.

"I suppose if I'm going to be eating it anyways, I might was well know what I'm in store for," he said as he took the fork from her. Holding it up to his nose, he gave a small sniff before cringing. He then glanced down at the echidna.

"It smells terrible. Are you sure this is edible?" asked Shadow. Angel just chuckled lightly as she shook her head.

"I suppose it is a little on the strong side as far as the smell. Probably the garlic in it I guess," said Angel. Shadow hesitantly put the food into his mouth and began to chew. After a few moments, he looked a little more thoughtful than he had previous as he swallowed it.

"It's actually pretty good," said Shadow reluctantly. Angel looked a little stunned by the statement. Seeing her reaction, he just smirked in response. "When I lived here, the scientists had me on some kind of nutrient paste. This stuff definitely tastes better than that did."

"Why were you on that kind of diet?" asked Angel. At this Shadow's smirk turned sour.

"They all saw me as a lab rat and choose to feed me as such I suppose," said Shadow with disgust.

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Angel as she took the fork back from him. "Surely you ate something new when you were down on Mobius, didn't you?"

"I stole something called a 'chili dog' from some street vendor selling them. I actually found that to be the best tasting thing I've had since I was born," said Shadow, remembering the distinct taste of the food from the other day.

"I actually think Sonic's favorite food is that exact same thing," said Angel, remembering Sonic speaking about it during their conversation on where to eat when they all were supposed to meet up today. This instantly caught Shadow's attention.

"So you really are friends with that blue hedgehog?" asked Shadow, narrowing his eyes.

"Yep. I owe my life to him. He set me free of my past," said Angel. _What does she mean by that?_ thought Shadow as he listened to her statement.

"I've ran into this 'Sonic' person a couple of times already. I can't put my finger on what it is, but there's something special about him," said Shadow.

"I don't know if he's special per say," said Angel as she looked up at the ceiling in thought. "He's just a very good person with a really big heart."

"Maybe that's what makes him so special," said Shadow. "Whatever it is, he's definitely a cut above the normal mobian."

"He's definitely the fastest mobian I've seen," said Angel.

"I can make a case that I'm just as fast as he is. When we were fighting on even terms, he was matching me move for move," said Shadow. "Still, he doesn't have a chance of beating me next time we fight."

"Then you don't know Sonic very well. You shouldn't take him lightly," said Angel.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Shadow as Rouge finally returned from the kitchen with Shadow's MRE in hand.

"Be careful handsome, the food's still really hot," said Rouge as she placed it on the table.

"Thanks for the warning," said Shadow as he sat down at the table. This caused Angel to only smile, realizing she was watching Shadow finally lower his guard a little bit. It was a baby step, but in the right direction in her mind.

August 25, 2323 17:57

Eggman hastily put on the final touches on connecting the video transmitter to the ARK's communications grid. Looking up from his work, he couldn't help but grin in delight of knowing the time to put his plan into motion was at hand.

"Come on Eggy, you've left us in the dark long enough. What is your big plan?" asked Rouge with annoyance as she stood at the camera's controls. Angel was there as well, standing at the viewing windows of the ARK's main control room.

"Patience my dear bat. All will revealed in less than two minutes," said Eggman as he walked in front of the camera. He then looked over at the two girls "Do I look sinister enough?" The two girls exchanged glances for second, then looked back at the doctor.

"I...think we're the wrong ones to answer that one. You should ask Shadow," said Angel. Eggman just huffed and faced the camera again.

"True evil geniuses are never appreciated," he said under his breath. He then keyed his watch communicator. "Shadow, is the cannon ready?"

"Power level is at seventy eight percent. She's got enough for our demonstration," said Shadow's voice over the communicator. _I don't like this at all. The cannon's a purely destructive weapon, what in the world is he planning that involves it,_ thought Rouge to herself. She was praying against all hope that Eggman seriously wasn't going to fire the cannon at the planet. Even at three fourths of its power, the Eclipse Cannon could cause damage on a global scale that would almost surely bring about its destruction.

"Good. When I tell them to look to the sky, wait ten seconds and then fire," said Eggman. Both Angel and Rouge tensed up when they heard that statement. _So he really_ is _going to fire this thing!_ they both thought at the same time.

"Understood, doctor. I'll be listening for the signal," said Shadow's voice.

"You aren't seriously going to fire the cannon at the planet, are you?" asked Angel. She knew she had to ask the question because if Rouge asked, it would be too suspicious.  
"Of course not, young lady," said Eggman with annoyance. "I'm not dumb enough to destroy the very world I'm trying to conquer." Both Angel and Rouge relaxed at hearing that, relived the doctor wasn't truly mad after all.

"Then what is your target?" asked Angel. Eggman merely grinned from ear to ear.

"You'll see. The whole world will see," said Eggman. By this point, the clock was ten seconds from striking six o'clock. "Show time Rouge!" Rouge turned on the camera, flipping the switch that caused the ARK's communications grid to connect to every communications satellite orbiting the planet. All around the planet, every single communications device, computer, and television instantly switched over to broadcasting Eggman.

* * *

"Guys! Come here quick!" cried Tails as Eggman's image came on the television he had been watching in the president's house.

"What's going on?" asked Sonic as he and the others entered the room. Seeing Eggman on the screen, they instantly became alert.

"What's he doing on TV?" asked Comet as she hovered next to Sonic and Sally.

"Nothing good, that's what," said Sonic.

"Greetings citizens of Mobius. For those of you who don't know me, I am the great scientific genius, Dr. Ivo Eggman. And tonight I'm bringing you, the entire planet, a show that will most certainly leave a lasting impression on you all," said Eggman.

"Get to the point you windbag," said Sonic as he frowned.

"I am broadcasting this message to not just the average person, but to the very leaders of the world's governing bodies as well. I am giving them twenty four hours to surrender the planet to me. Failure to comply will lead to a most unsettling ending for you all," said Eggman.

"He can't possibly be serious, can he?" asked Tails as he looked over at the others.

"I don't know Tails," said Sally nervously.

"Some of you probably don't believe I can back up this threat. To demonstrate that I can back it up, I would like for you all to turn your attention to the skies above you," said Eggman.

"Let's go," said Sonic as he started making his way outside, the others following him. The foursome looked up to the heavens, wondering what was going to happen.

"What's he planning to do?" cried President Quinn as he ran out onto the lawn with the others.

"We have no idea," said Sally as they continued to watch the heavens. While it was summer on the northern hemisphere, the south was in the mid winter months. Thankfully they were near the equator so the temperature wasn't that bad, but it did mean that the sky had turned to night by this point. Suddenly, a faint green glow could be seen in the backdrop of the evening sky. Everyone watched as it started to grow in intensity.

"What is that?" asked Tails as they watched the glow.

"I honestly have no clue what that is big guy," said Sonic. Suddenly, the light turned into a beam that raced across the sky. Everyone watched with baited breath as the light struck the surface of one of the twin moons above. Almost instantly after the beam touched the moon, a massive explosion erupted on its surface as nearly a third of the moon was blown off of the remaining part. Billions of chunks of rock began to spray off in all directions as the massive chunk that had been blown loose started drifting away from the planet. This caused a massive sigh of relief from all who were present.

"It's a good thing that giant piece is headed away from us. If that were to have hit the planet, it most likely would've caused an extinction event to happen," said Tails.

"No kidding. Tails," said Sally, still wide eyed at what she had just witnessed.

"What could've caused that beam of light?" asked Sonic, looking over at Sally and Tails.

"I have no idea at all," said Sally.

"Neither do I," said Tails.

"So what do we do now?" asked Quinn, finally looking back down at the mobians. "We can't possibly protect ourselves against something like that."

"We stick to the plan," said Sonic, frowning as he turned and went back into the home. "Eggman will want to hear you surrender to him personally. He will call. I'll bet my speed on it." Everyone else looked at each other, none of them sure how Sonic was so sure of himself. Realizing that they had no other alternatives, they all headed back inside to wait for Eggman's call.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

August 25, 2323 18:08

Sonic and the others stood in front of President Quinn's desk in his main office. Just as Sonic had predicted, it hadn't taken Eggman more than a few minutes to contact the president through his private video display. Now the mobians were watching as the president listened to Eggman's demands, safely behind where his field of vision was at.

"Considering the position the whole planet is now in, I think my terms are more than generous Mr. President," said Eggman.

"And how do I know you won't change you mind and fire that beam at the planet anyways?" asked Quinn.

"Come now, I'm a man of my word. Simply turn the United Nation over to me and this whole situation goes away," said Eggman. Quinn paused, glancing over at Sonic with a look of extreme worry. But Sonic merely smiled and gave the president a nod. At the same time, Tails looked up from his monitoring device and gave a thumbs up. This signaled to everyone that he had a lock on Eggman's signal. Quinn gave a small nod of his own, hoping Eggman would pay it no mind.

"I won't do it," said Quinn. This instantly caused Eggman's grin to switch to a frown. "Even with this threat you've presented us all with, I can't in good faith turn the United Nation over to a madman." Now Eggman's frown had turned into complete rage.

"How can you defy me even after I showed you what will happen to the world if you fail to comply with my demands!?" shouted Eggman. Quinn kept his cool despite the large lump that had appeared in his throat.

"Because I know Sonic will stop you," said Quinn.

"Ha! Sonic doesn't have a clue where I am. And he only has twenty four hours to reach me before my leniency reaches its limit. I swear that if you don't turn over the United Nation to me by six o'clock tomorrow night, I _will_ fire that weapon at the heart of your country!"

"Make your threats, doctor. They will get you nowhere with me," said Quinn. Eggman let out a terrifyingly loud scream, then cut the transmission.

"He's loud when he's mad," said Comet.

"Can't argue with that," said Sonic, looking down at Tails. "So where's he hiding Tails?"

"I'm not sure I believe where its telling me he's at," said Tails with a look of uncertainty.

"Where did the signal come from?" asked Sally.

"It tracked him to the space colony ARK. But...I thought the ARK had been shut down for decades due to some accident? And why would he even be there in the first place?" asked Tails.

"That must've been where that beam of light came from. But where did he get the power to cause that much destruction? And what did he use to focus all of that power?" asked Sonic.

"That must be why he and Shadow have been collecting the Chaos Emeralds. He's powering his weapon with them," said Tails.

"I think I know what it was that fired that beam," said Quinn, catching everyone's attention.

"What do you mean?" asked Sally.

"I had heard rumors speaking of a doomsday weapon that had been developed on the ARK when it was still being used. It was supposed to be a weapon capable of destroying a planet," said Quinn.

"I'd say the rumor was true then after what we just saw. Which means he really is on the ARK," said Sonic.

"That's bad Sonic. How are we supposed to reach him up there?" asked Tails.

"I can get you there," said Quinn. Everyone looked over at him with a bit of disbelief in their eyes.

"How?" asked Sonic. Suddenly, the sound of the door bell caught everyone's attention. Sonic looked back at Quinn. "You expecting someone?"

"No...I have no idea who's at the door. This is a private retreat. No one should've been able to get in," said Quinn as he started making his way to the door, everyone following after him. As they arrived at the door, everyone stood behind the president as he opened the door.

"Mister, you have something of mine that I want back. And you need to tell those men at the gate that they need a lesson in being more friendly," said a gruff voice at the door that everyone instantly recognized.

"Knuckles!?" cried everyone. Quinn stepped aside to reveal the crimson echidna standing at the doorway, his own face suddenly having a stunned look to it. Strung over his shoulder was a large brown sack.

"Uh...Hey guys. What are you doing here?" asked Knuckles.

"I think we could ask the same thing of you, Knux," said Sonic.

"Friend of yours?" asked Quinn.

"A good friend," said Sally as she walked up to Knuckles. "What are you doing here?"

"I sensed a shard of the Master Emerald inside this giant house. I'm here to get it back," said Knuckles.

"A shard of the what?" asked Quinn.

"A piece of green gemstone that glows," said Knuckles. Instantly, Quinn realized what it was the echidna was after.

"Oh that thing my wife found the other day on our front lawn. Please come in. Any friend of Sonic is welcome here. I'll go fetch the item," said Quinn as he walked off into the home.

"Thanks," said Knuckles as he walked inside. He then looked over at his friends. "So your turn. What are you doing in some random person's house like this?"

"Random person!?" said Sonic and Tails together.

"Knuckles...That man you just spoke to is the President of the United Nation of Mobius," said Sally. This caused Knuckles' eyes to widen as he realized what a jerk he had to have sounded like when Quinn had answered the door.

"I had no idea that was the president of the main human nation," said Knuckles.

"Never mind that. It's a good thing you showed up," said Sonic with a smile.

"Why's that?" asked Knuckles.

"Because you're going to go to the space colony ARK with us to stop Eggman from using that weapon again," said Sonic. This caused Knuckles to frown.

"No way. Eggman's already got me running circles finding the Master Emerald's shards again. I don't have time for a space adventure," said Knuckles.

"Please help us Knuckles," said Comet as she flew up next to him, tears starting to form in her eyes. "We think Angel's being held prisoner by Eggman. We could really use your help to save her." Knuckles frown started to fade, but he still said nothing.

"Come on Knuckles. We could really use the help," said Tails.

"Well...I haven't been able to sense any more shards. But I can still sense that a small bit of the Master Emerald isn't here. Like a small piece is still missing. If I could just find that before we go, I'd feel a lot better about going," said Knuckles.

"Well, then strap your space suit on Knux, cause I know where that last piece is," said Sonic with a smile.

"Eggman has it? I should've known," said Knuckles with disgust.

"I don't think he himself has it up there. Angel said that she was going after some bat girl that had a shard when we split up back on Prison Island. I'm betting either one of them has it at this point," said Sonic.

"Darn that bat!" cried Knuckles, his hands curling into fists as anger crossed his face. "First she steals the Master Emerald from my island! Then she has the gall to take a piece of it after I had to break it!"

"Why did you break it?" asked Tails.

"Because if I hadn't, Eggman would have it right now," said Knuckles as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Guess now we know now why you're looking for shards again. So? You in?" asked Sonic.

"Yeah. Count me in," said Knuckles with smirk. By now, Quinn was returning with something in his hands.

"Is this what you're after?" asked Quinn as he held out a small chunk of glowing green gemstone.

"Yes it is. Can I please have it Mr. President, sir?" asked Knuckles.

"My wife won't be happy, but I also don't want to keep something from its rightful owner," said Quinn as he handed the shard to the echidna. Knuckles gave a quick nod before putting the shard into his bag.

"So, back to the topic of how we get there," said Sonic, looking over at Quinn.

"Ah yes. Our government is in possession of a rather old space vehicle that is still usable, but not in service. It was originally used to ferry supplies back and forth from ARK before the accident that shut it down," said Quinn.

"You expect us to take an ancient ship like that there?" asked Sonic, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually Sonic, low tech might be the way to go," said Tails as he thought about it.

"Why's that?" asked Sonic.

"Eggman will be expecting high grade military ships to assault the ARK after what the president said to him. But if we fake him out by using an outdated ship, he might lower his guard," said Tails.

"Doesn't mean he won't fire on us as soon as he sees us," said Sonic.

"Actually, we've developed a way to get you there unseen," said Quinn.

"How?" asked Sally.

"It's a top secret project that G.U.N. was developing off site of the main Prison Island facility. They built a prototype cloaking device meant to hide our fighters from both sight and radar," said Quinn.

"Do you think it can even be used on a ship like the one you described?" asked Sonic.

"If they show me the design specs, I should be able to figure out how to hardwire it to the space ship," said Tails.

"Tails...Do you really think you can figure out something that complex in such a short time?" asked Sally.

"It won't be easy, but I'll find a way. I have too," said Tails.

"Then you should get going, my friends. The longer you dilly dally around here, the less time you'll have to prepare. Unfortunately, I have to stay behind to calm the public," said Quinn. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I'll stay behind to help with that as well," said Sally.

"Why stay Sal?" asked Sonic.

"Because if the humans see that the mobian's monarch is helping the president, maybe they'll finally come around to treating us more as equals," said Sally.

"Yeah...Some have forgotten about the Great War, but most still think of us in a bad light cause of that," said Sonic with regret.

"Even though it was Eggman's fault the whole war even happened?" asked Tails.

"Yep. No offense to the humans, but they have a hard time letting that go. Unlike us mobians who've moved on from that and only view Eggman in a bad light," said Sonic.

"Which is exactly why I want to stay behind and help calm the populace," said Sally.

"Do that Sal. We'll stop Eggman," said Sonic. He then looked over at Comet. As usual, the small chao hadn't said a word throughout the conversation, but perked up when Sonic turned to her. "And don't you worry Comet. Angel will be back with us in no time."

"I have no doubt she will be, Sonic," said Comet.

* * *

Back on the ARK, it was anything but calm as Eggman burst into the cannon's control room where Shadow was waiting for him. Rouge was close behind him, while Angel had decided to stay out of range of Eggman's tantrum. Angel was also now on a mission with Nicole to alert Sonic of where they were at seeing the danger the world was now in.

"You look upset doctor," said Shadow, a look of curiosity in his eyes.

"Upset isn't the word to describe it you pin cushion!" shouted Eggman angrily as he walked up to the controls and slammed both fists onto it. Shadow looked wide eyed at Rouge, the unseen question on his mind instantly picked up by the bat.

"The president refused his demands. Now, he's acting like this," said Rouge, giving a shrug of her shoulders. Eggman instantly whipped around and stared intensely at her.

"Do _not_ test me Rouge! Or I will personally break your other wing even worse than the first!" he shouted.

"You need to calm down master," said Shadow calmly as he regained Eggman's attention. "We still have one more Chaos Emerald to find after all."

"Why do we need the last one when the cannon could do _that_ to one of our moons with just six?" asked Rouge.

"Unfortunately, the cannon's power core has become unstable after we fired it the first time," said Shadow.

"That doesn't sound good at all," said Rouge.

"It isn't. Unless we get the seventh Chaos Emerald into the power core within the next twenty four hours, the current six will cause a meltdown that'll destroy the cannon," said Shadow.

"But why would putting the final one in there stop that? Wouldn't that just cause further damage?" asked Rouge.

"No. The cannon was designed to use all seven Chaos Emeralds when it was fired. Since it wasn't, power fluctuations that Professor Gerald hadn't taken into account are beginning to occur. But if we place the final emerald in the core, the power fluctuations will subside," said Shadow.

"Makes sense to me," said Eggman as twisted his mustache in thought. "The Chaos Emeralds are an enormous source of raw chaos energy. They are only fully stable when all seven are together."

"So what do we have to worry about? All we need to do is track down that last Chaos Emerald and we'll be golden," said Rouge.

"The problem is that I can't sense it where it is. And unless your contacts can find it, we're going to have a major problem on our hands after twenty four hours," said Shadow.

"Sorry Shady. They don't have a clue either," said Rouge.

"I have an idea where it is," said Eggman as he let go of his moustache. "I'm betting a certain fox boy by the name of Tails has it inside that walker of his. It looked like it and that plane of his were one in the same. And if memory serves correctly, he uses a Chaos Emerald to get the maximum usage out of that plane."

"Then why couldn't I sense it when we were on the island?" asked Shadow.

"He might be storing it inside a casing that blocks its unique energy signal," said Rouge.

"That's it!" shouted Eggman. "It must be of similar design to Prison Island's vault! Why didn't I think of that before?"

"Maybe because you were stressing out about the failed blackmail of the planet?" suggested Rouge.

"Shut up..." hissed Eggman. "Somehow we have to track down that two tailed fox as soon as we can."

"Leave that to me Eggy," said Rouge as she turned and ran out of the room.

"Do you honestly think she can track him down in less than a day?" asked Shadow, looking up at Eggman.

"She's very resourceful. Otherwise we wouldn't have found those other three emeralds as fast as we did," said Eggman.

"Perhaps..." said Shadow, looking back at the doorway.

August 25, 2323 18:52

"Can't you download those plans any faster Nicole? Shadow or Eggman could pop in at any moment," said Angel nervously. The pair had been hard at work ever since Eggman had left the control room. Getting in contact with Tails through the Tornado's radio hadn't been too difficult once Nicole had managed to figure out the ARK's communications grid. And everyone had been happy to discover the other was okay. But not long after they had established contact, Tails had made a request of Nicole to help him figure out a way to connect the cloaking device to the space shuttle.

"I'm downloading as fast as I can. This old equipment isn't the best at streaming data like the current computers planet side," said Nicole. "Just be ready to stall if someone does show up." This caused Angel to place her hands on her hips and get an angry look to her face.

"How? You stick out like a sore thumb since no one up here besides Rouge has seen you in this form," snapped Angel. Nicole looked over at her with a shrug, which caused Angel to just throw her hands up in defeat.

"Who the heck are you?" asked an all too familiar voice from the control room's entrance. Both girls looked over to see Shadow standing at the doorway, staring angrily at them. But his rage seemed more directed towards Angel.

"She's just a friend that is-," said Angel.

"Shut up!" cried Shadow as he walked towards them. "I don't care who she is, I'm locking her in one of the living quarters! Then you and I are gonna have a nice long chat, echidna!" He then reached out to grab Nicole's arm, but instantly pulled his hand back as soon as it went through her arm. Nicole's arm waivered a little before becoming solid again.

"What in the hell are you!?" cried Shadow.

"Calm down Shadow and I'll explain," said Angel. She then walked away from Nicole, Shadow following her while keeping an eye on the lynx wearily.

"Explain. Now," said Shadow after they had walked to the middle of the room.

"She's a self aware AI that is broadcasting a holo projection from her physical self. If you look over at the control board, you'll see her real self sitting there," said Angel as she pointed out Nicole's actual physical self.

"A holo projection? So that's why my hand went through her like that," said Shadow, looking back at Nicole as he now realized what had happened.

"Yes. She was with me when you teleported us up here. She's just been keeping me company when you and the others have left me alone," said Angel. But as Shadow kept his gaze where Nicole was at, he spotted something else that instantly refueled his rage. He looked back at Angel, who recognized that Shadow's mood had gone south again.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"What's wrong is you contacted someone outside of the ARK," said Shadow as he pointed at the control board. "I can see the transmitting light is on." But instead of fear gripping Angel, Shadow was surprised to see her instead give him an angry frown.

"Well what did you expect me to do after what you and Eggman did to one of our moons?" she asked. "I'm wasn't gonna just sit by and let you continue to keep that weapon under your control."

"Let me guess. You contacted Sonic and told him where to find us," said Shadow.

"Technically, he already knew where you were at. Your boss isn't good at covering his tracks," said Angel. "But yes. Sonic, his friend Tails, and the Guardian himself are coming here to stop you."

"Tails? So that same fox that Eggman mentioned is on his way here?" asked Shadow.

"Yes. And he's bringing that same walker that scared Eggman off with him," said Angel. This instantly caused Shadow to grin.

"Then you just made my day," said Shadow. "I'll forgive your transgression, but unfortunately I can't let you roam the colony anymore. I can't trust you to not cause any more problems." He then reached out and grabbed Angel by the arm before starting to pull her towards the door.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" cried Angel.

"Same thing I was planning to do to your AI friend over there. I'm locking you in a living quarter till this is all over," said Shadow.

"I'm only gonna warn you one time to let go of me Shadow," said Angel as the black hedgehog continued to drag her towards the door.

"Do your worst," said Shadow, dismissing her threat.

"Alright. Don't say I didn't warn you," said Angel. She suddenly dug her feet into the floor before yanking back hard on her arm. A surprised Shadow was instantly pulled off his feet and thrown back several yards. He only stopped flying because he slammed back first into the wall behind them, slumping down into a heap.

"I think you overdid it, even for him," said Nicole, having watched the scene unfold from her place at the control board. A sheepish look crossed Angel's face.

"Yeah...Maybe a little bit," said Angel as she walked over to where a stunned Shadow was just beginning to recover. "I'm sorry Shadow. I didn't mean to throw you against the wall that hard. But to be fair, I did warn you."

"Noted..." said Shadow as he rubbed the back of his head where a small bump was now forming. Angel offered him a hand, which he hesitated slightly before taking a hold of. Angel then pulled him back to his feet, noticing Shadow looked a little spooked by what had happened. "I never knew a girl could be that strong."

"Part of it's because I'm an echidna. A fair number of us have above average strength," said Angel.

"And the rest?" asked Shadow.

"I was trained to be a warrior since I was nine years old," said Angel.

"I see. I guess it didn't matter that we took your weapon then," said Shadow. Angel just shook her head.

"Nope. I can fight hand to hand just as well as I can fight with my sword," said Angel.

"I suppose I can respect that," said Shadow as he started walking out of the room.

"So you letting what I did go?" asked Angel.

"Yes. I can see now there's no point in trying to restrain you. You'd probably just break the door down if I did lock you up," said Shadow. He then stopped and glanced back over at Angel. "Besides, you set into motion the final piece of the puzzle. And you're giving me another chance to challenge that blue hedgehog. I shouldn't be angry at you. I should be delighted by this turn of events." He then walked out of the room, leaving the two girls behind.

"I can't believe that guy," said Nicole as she watched him leave.

"He's something alright," said Angel as she walked back over to Nicole. Suddenly, the lynx perked up.

"And I just finished downloading those files," said Nicole as her eyes started darting back and forth as if she was reading something incredibly fast. "Seems pretty straight forward...Huh...Never would've thought to do that..." Angel just watched as Nicole deciphered the plans.

"So, can you help Tails out?" asked Angle.

"Well, yes and no," said Nicole after nearly a minute of silence following Angle's question. "I can show them a way to connect the cloaking device to the ship. The problem is that the cloaking field has some severe flaws in it. I honestly don't know how long that device could cloak something as big as that shuttle. In its current state, my best estimate puts the field lasting only about five minutes or so."

"That's nowhere near enough time," said Angel.

"Well, I can give them a few small modifications that Tails should be able to make in time to stabilize the field somewhat. But the field will only last for about twenty minutes at most with the modifications," said Nicole.

"That's better than five minutes by far. Transmit Tails what he needs to know before Shadow comes back or Eggman shows up," said Angel.

"Already doing it," said Nicole.

* * *

"You're echidna friend contacted the planet," said Shadow as he crossed paths with Rouge. She was on her way to check up on Angel, but hearing Shadow's first words nearly caused her to panic. But seeing that Shadow was anything but mad, she caught herself.

"Not my job to watch her," said Rouge with a shrug. "So she give away where we're at?"

"She did, though in the end it matters little. That Tails person the doctor was talking about is coming here with that walker in tow, which means he'll be bringing the final emerald along with him," said Shadow.

"Then lucky us I suppose. I'm guessing that Sonic will be with him?" asked Rouge.

"Yes. Which means I can put that arrogant blue hedgehog in his place before this is all over," said Shadow.

"You really think you're better than him, don't you?" asked Rouge.

"I don't 'think' at all. I know I am," said Shadow with a hint of anger.

"Still, one of us should tell Eggman what's heading our way," said Rouge.  
"You do it. I want to be left alone for a little while," said Shadow as he walked off in the same direction he had been going. Rouge watched him depart. She then smiled slightly as she realized this was her chance to finally continue with a part of her mission she had been unable to up to this point. Keying her wrist communicator, her smile only widened.

"Hey Eggy. Got some bad news," said Rouge into the communicator.

"I doubt you could make my day any worse than it has been," said Eggman.

"Then I'll let you decide," said Rouge. She nearly hesitated slightly, but realized she had to go through with it despite what she was sure to follow. "Our little echidna friend got in contact with Sonic."

"She did what!?" cried Eggman's voice.

"Calm down, hot head," said Rouge with annoyance. "She also told Shadow that Tails is coming up here with his walker, which means the last Chaos Emerald is going to hand delivered to us without us even having to leave the ARK."

"So what's the bad news again? This saves us the trouble of hunting him down. Not only that, but now we have a warning that Sonic and his friends will be on their way here," said Eggman. Rouge could feel the anticipation of her next words making her almost giddy.

"I could help prepare our defenses if you tell me what the master password to the ARK is," said Rouge.

"That would help me out a lot actually. The password is M-A-R-I-A," said Eggman.

"Maria? Seems awfully simple for a master password," said Rouge.

"Never mind that, just start getting our defenses prepared. And make sure that echidna is ready to play hostage. I don't want her to cause any more problems and it'll give me something to threaten Sonic with if he does manage to get here," said Eggman before he cut the transmission. Rouge couldn't help but grin from ear to ear.

"That was almost too easy. Too bad for Angel though," said Rouge as she headed for the main control room.

* * *

"That's the best I can give you with such a short amount of time to prepare. Sorry I couldn't give you something more to work with," said Nicole.

"It'll be fine I think. I'll link back up with you when we arrive so we can follow your signal to where you and Angel are at," said Tails voice over Nicole's physical self.

"I'll be waiting," said Nicole, cutting her transmission.

"I just hope Tails can get that cloaking device working well enough to get them here undetected," said Angel.

"Me too. The field is going to be very unstable on a ship that big even with the modifications I gave to Tails," said Nicole.

"Seems like you managed to avoid Shadow's wrath even after he caught you," said Rouge's voice, drawing the two girls attention to the doorway.

"Probably had something to do with her tossing him into a wall," said Nicole with as smirk on her face. Rouge cocked an eye and looked over at Angel.

"Did you really do that?" asked Rouge.

"Yes, though I didn't mean to throw him as hard as I did," said Angel.

"What did he do to set you off?" asked Rouge as she walked up to them.

"Tried to lock me up for contacting our friends," said Angel. "He thought twice about it after I got him off me."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to tangle with you. Not with you being trained as a warrior," said Rouge as she began to type away at the ARK's controls.

"What are you doing now?" asked Angel.

"Seeing if I can't locate any information on Project Shadow. That's the whole reason I'm in this mess at the moment. Luckily, Eggman was dumb enough to give me the master password to the ARK's controls," said Rouge.

"You do know I probably could've bypassed its security, right?" asked Nicole, looking a little offended at being an after thought. Rouge snapped upright, instantly realizing that Nicole was right.

"Yeah...I kind of forgot about that," said Rouge sheepishly. She then returned to typing at the keyboard. "But I have the password, so we'll just get it done that much faster now." As Rouge's fingers flew across the keyboard, information started to be displayed on the main monitor.

"Wait a second...Are you sure this is the Project Shadow file?" asked Angel, spotting the first obvious thing on the screen that looked wrong.

"You're right...This is Project Shadow's file, but what in the world is that thing?" said Rouge, also seeing it as well. The information on the screen was regarding something that was dubbed the Biolizard. Accompanying it was a picture of what looked to be a giant reptile of some sort with a machine of some kind on its back.

"The 'Biolizard'?" asked Angel, looking over at Rouge. The bat shrugged her shoulders.

"I honestly have no idea what that thing is," said Rouge as she began to read the information on the screen.

"It's creepy looking if nothing else," said Nicole.

"It says here that the Biolizard was the prototype of Project Shadow. It was designed to be an ageless, immortal creature. The ultimate life form..." said Rouge.

"But I thought that's what Shadow was," said Angel as Rouge kept reading.

"I can only guess Shadow was created later. According to this, the Biolizard met with failure after its cells began to rapidly deteriorate soon after being created. They were forced to attach a life sustaining device to its back in order for it to survive," said Rouge.

"So then it could still be alive today," said Angel.

"It's possible, but I would've thought G.U.N. would know about it if it was," said Rouge.

"But still, this information is intriguing. If Shadow was created with the same concept in mind, then he'll be around long after you two have died. Assuming that he is ageless," said Nicole.

"That's actually really sad to me," said Angel, her voice reflecting her statement. "It means he will outlive everyone he cares about. Anyone he gets close to will eventually die while he never grows older."

"I didn't think of it that way..." said Rouge, looking down at the ground.

"So does the file have anything on Shadow at all or just this Biolizard?" asked Nicole. Rouge started to type before the screen suddenly blared at her, causing her to recoil.

"Access denied?" said Rouge as she stared at the message on the screen.

"That's weird. If you used the master password, then shouldn't it have unlocked all of the ARK's files?" asked Angel.

"It should have. You wanna take a crack at it Nicole?" asked Rouge, looking over at the lynx.

"Be glad to," said Nicole as she took over for Rouge. "All I need is the master password so I won't hit any security other than what you ran into."

"The password is 'Maria'," said Rouge. Instantly Angel looked over at her.

"Seriously? That's the password?" asked Angel.

"Yeah...Is it a bad one or something?" asked Rouge, unsure what the big deal was.

"That's the name of Shadow's friend who lived here with him fifty years ago was," said Angel.

"Coincidence?" asked Rouge.

"I doubt it," said Angel.

"I don't like this at all," said Nicole as she slowly shook her head back and forth.

"What do you mean?" asked Rouge.

"It's a voice recognition password. But...from what I can tell, the voice required for access is Shadow's. And there's a video file along with an information one," said Nicole.

"That's odd. Why make it so only Shadow can open it? And what video could it be of?" asked Rouge.

"Beats me. It would take me a long time to open these files though," said Nicole.

"How long?" asked Rouge.

"Like several months long," said Nicole.

"Really? Even for you?" asked Angel.

"It's not just cracking the voice password. The files are also severely corrupted by some kind of really nasty computer virus. The password's the easy part, but cleaning up after that virus to even open the files...that's what will take so long," said Nicole.

"I say download it anyways and try to get them debugged," said Rouge. "For all we know the files might hold something more valuable than we can possibly imagine."

"I agree," said Angel. Nicole just nodded as she started to download the file.

"I'll work on this during any downtime I have," said Nicole.

"I appreciate it," said Rouge.

"Don't mention it," said Nicole with a smile. Rouge looked back over at Angel.

"Now that that's out of the way, have some bad news for you girlfriend," said Rouge.

"I can take a guess. Eggman wants me to play a nice little hostage for him?" asked Angel.

"Oh look at you go. Got it on the first guess," said Rouge. She then winked at Angel. "I'll tie you up, but I'll just use a simple rope to do it. Think you're strong enough to break out of it if you need to?"

"If its simple rope, should be a piece of cake to do so," said Angel, a grin on her face. "And what fatso doesn't know, won't hurt us."

"Just make sure you're in a position to not cause more problems by doing so," said Rouge.

"Come on, you have to give me a little more credit than that," said Angel, looking hurt by Rouge's statement.

"I do, but Eggman's still a dangerous person. And he'll be on his guard throughout this ordeal," said Rouge.

"Point taken," said Angel.

"Don't worry though. I won't tie you up till tomorrow. No sense in making you uncomfortable till we have to," said Rouge.

August 26, 2323 15:28

"Looks like everything's in the green. We're ready for takeoff," said Tails as he slowly pushed the steering control for the space shuttle forward. The aging shuttle started to make its way out onto the runway, crew members making room for the ship as it exited the hanger.

"Still can't believe you were able to get that cloaking device hooked up that fast," said Knuckles from his seat behind Sonic and Tails.

"It's only because Nicole showed me the fastest way to make it work. Still wasn't a big fan of pulling another all night job to prepare this thing. Doing that with the Tornado last time was bad enough," said Tails.

"At least we let you catch a few Zs before we left," said Sonic.

"Which I appreciate, even if it cuts down our window to stop Eggman by a few hours," said Tails, rubbing a bit of sleep from his left eye.

"Eh, you worry to much little buddy. We'll be in and out in no time at all," said Sonic.

"I hope it'll be as easy as you make it out to be," said Tails with a look of worry. By now, the shuttle had arrived at its starting point to head down the runway. "Alright guys. They warned me the shuttle might give off quite a few Gs when I turn on the secondary engines. After all, it has to pick up enough speed to break through the gravity of the planet."

"Shouldn't be worse than when I'm running my fastest," said Sonic.

"Easy for you to say," said Knuckles with a frown.

"Just grip the seat as hard as you can if you have to Knuckles," suggested Tails.

"I'll keep that in mind," he replied.

"Alright. Let's go!" cried Tails as he activated the shuttles main engine. The shuttle quickly started to pick up speed as it lifted off the ground. Immediately Tails pulled back hard on the controls as the shuttle went almost vertical.

"Get ready guys! Secondary engines engaging in three...two...one...mark!" said Tails. Instantly all three passengers were jerked back hard into their seats as the secondary engines ignited.

"Like your speed, huh?" asked Knuckles sarcastically from his seat in the back.

"Okay, so it's not the same. So sue me," said Sonic.

"Activating cloaking device," said Tails as he flipped the newly installed switch on the control board. To someone watching the shuttle from the outside, it appeared to waiver slightly before almost instantly vanishing into thin air.

"It's deployed. Let's just hope it gets us there before it comes undone," said Tails.

"How long till we reach the ARK?" asked Sonic.

"ETA is about twenty minutes," said Tails as he looked over the instruments.

"Just about as long as Nicole said her fixes to the field should make it last. We're gonna be cutting it really close," said Sonic. By now, the shuttle was just passing through the final bit of atmosphere as the G force began to finally subside.

"I'd really not like to do that again anytime soon," said Knuckles as the force keeping them pressed into their seats finally ended.

"We won't have to. It should be a smooth ride all the way to ARK," said Tails as he lined up the shuttle on a direct approach to the space colony.

August 26, 2323 15:47

"So you're absolutely sure you told Sonic where to find us and that they're on their way here?" asked Eggman for the third time to Angel as he looked over the radar equipment for the fifth time in the last hour. He had been sure Sonic would've spared no time getting to him with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. But there was barely two hours left till his ultimatum would reach its conclusion and still there was nothing on the radar.

"Sure did. And you'll be sorry once he gets here," said Angel from her spot sitting on her knees. Her hands were bound by rope behind her back, just as she and Rouge had planned.

"Well, he's certainly taking his sweet time," grumbled Eggman under his breath.

"So where's your two flunkies?" asked Angel.

"Never you mind that, little girl," said Eggman. Suddenly, a blip appeared on the radar. But according to the readout, the signal was almost on top of the ARK rather than hundreds of miles away like the radar was supposed to pick up for incoming craft.

"What in the world!? How did they get that close without the radar spotting them?" asked Eggman. Angel merely smiled to herself as she realized the time was at last at hand.

"Sonic catch you off guard?" she asked. Eggman cursed to himself. Despite the ARK's advanced weaponry for its time, he couldn't seem to get a lock on with any of it. It was almost as if the ship were a ghost to the targeting mechanisms.

"Shut up right now or I'll reconsider keeping you alive as a hostage!" shouted Eggman angrily as the signal finally passed under the ARK's field of fire with its weapons. "Blast it all!"

"What's going on in here?" asked Rouge as she walked into the room.

"That infernal hedgehog somehow fooled the ARK's radar! Now he's already under our ability to fire at his ship!" cried Eggman.

"Yelling isn't gonna solve the problem, Eggy," said Rouge with annoyance. Eggman coughed before regaining his composure.

"You're right Rouge. It doesn't matter in the end. The final Chaos Emerald is here, which means we are in the end game," said Eggman as he activated his watch communicator. "Shadow. Sonic and his friends managed to get aboard the ARK. Do _not_ engage them. Let them come to us. After all, we have the perfect bait."

"Understood doctor. I'll be standing by," said Shadow.

"Now for your role Rouge. I want you to see if you can't get them to split up somehow. Make yourself out to be an escaped prisoner I took from Prison Island. Only that echidna over there has seen you with me so they'll be none the wiser. And it'll be easier to deal with them if they're separated from each other. It looked like they're going to dock with the north airlock, so you'd better hurry if you're going to catch them," said Eggman. Rouge just smiled to herself. _Perfect! I'll be able to meet up with them and fill them in on what's going on without giving myself away,_ she thought.

"No problem Eggy," said Rouge as she turned and ran out of the room.

* * *

"Man...I can't believe we're still in this debris field. Guess Eggman did quite a number on our moon to have all these rock chunks flying everywhere even this far from the moon," said Sonic as Tails navigated the shuttle through the immense asteroid field that had appeared almost instantly after they had began their course towards ARK.

"Tell me about it. I'm surprised one hasn't hit us by now," said Tails as he concentrated on the task at hand. As they drew closer to ARK, Knuckles squinted as he looked at the surface of the colony, not sure if he was really seeing what he thought he saw.

"Uh...guys. Tell me if I'm just seeing things, but doesn't the front of the ARK look a lot like Eggman's face?" asked Knuckles. Both Sonic and Tails drew their attention towards the ARK's surface.

"Actually, it kind of does," said Sonic.

"That's really weird and creepy if the ARK was built with his face on it decades before he was even around," said Tails. Suddenly, the craft jerked hard to the left as a loud clang noise sounded from behind them. "Oh no! One of the meteors finally hit us!"

"Are we going to be okay?" asked Knuckles as Tails fought with the controls.

"Yeah...Give me a second to get us out of this spin," said Tails as he finally managed to get the craft back under control. He quickly read over the diagnostics report. "Doesn't look like anything serious was damaged. The cargo bay's hatch opened up though. Good thing we tied down the Cyclone walker. Otherwise it'd have been ejected out into space."

"Did you say 'out into space'!?" cried Knuckles.

"What's got your tail in a bind Knux? Tails said the walker was safe," said Sonic, looking back at the echidna with a questioning look.

"I put the sack with the Master Emerald shards back there, that's what!" yelled Knuckles. As if on cue, a small brown object suddenly came into view just over the top of the shuttle. Luckily, it was heading straight towards the space colony.

"Well, you lucked out Knuckles," said Sonic as he jerked a thumb towards the floating away sack. "It looks like it'll land on the ARK. We can go after the shards after we stop Eggman."

"You call that lucky!?" shouted Knuckles.

"Calm down Knuckles! It's hard enough paying attention to flying this thing without you yelling!" shouted Tails back at the echidna.

"I will not calm down you little-" was all Knuckles got out before he was punched in the face by Sonic. He had gotten up out of his seat and was now standing over the crimson echidna. Knuckles held a hand up to his aching face, glaring back at Sonic with a look that could kill.

"Don't raise your voice to him Knuckles," said Sonic, anger laced in his words. Knuckles wanted to tell Sonic off as well. However, he restrained himself and just held up a hand while closing his eyes. This told Sonic he was dropping the point, which was enough for the hedgehog. "Good. Now we'll find them after we're done with our mission."

"Oh not good," said Tails as he looked at the data still streaming in from the damage report. "The cloaking field is coming undone."

"You're right. That isn't good at all. How much longer till we're past the ARK's weapon systems?" asked Sonic.

"About twenty seconds. Let's just hope the field can throw off their targeting long enough to get inside the safe zone," said Tails. Everyone practically held their breath as the seconds ticked by till at last they passed by the start of the safe zone. This caused a sigh of relief from all three mobians.

"Alright. We should be fine to dock at the northern airlock," said Tails as he angled the craft towards the northern quadrant of the colony.

"I hope Eggman and Shadow are ready for a fight," said Sonic as he sat back down for their final approach. "Cause I'm definitely gonna give them a fight they'll remember for a long time to come."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"This place looked a lot bigger on the outside," said Sonic as he stepped out of the airlock and into the ARK's interior. The Cyclone walker followed after him with Tails behind the controls.

"I agree," said Tails as he brought the walker up beside Sonic. He began to type commands into the walker's controls as the radio broadcasting light lit up on the panel. "You reading me Nicole?"

"Loud and clear Tails," said Nicole's voice over the walker's radio. "We have a small problem though. Eggman's holding Angel in the main control room for the colony. He just sent Rouge to meet up with you guys, so expect her shortly."

"Are you with Angel right now?" asked Sonic.

"Yes. I'm in her pocket though so I have no visual of what's going on at all," said Nicole.

"That's probably for the best. Eggman would love to get his hands on you if he knew you were here," said Tails.

"No doubt. Nicole's caused all sorts of problems for him over the years," said Sonic with a grin.

"I'll continue to monitor audio. I'm also downloading a schematic of the ARK's layout to the Tornado. I'm marking where the main control room is, as well as the Eclipse Cannon's power core where the Chaos Emeralds are," said Nicole. Tails watched as the data began to scroll across the Tornado's diagnostics monitor.

"So we know Eggman's in the control room. Any idea where Shadow's hiding?" asked Sonic.

"Unfortunately, I haven't a clue where he is at the moment. If I had to guess, he's guarding the Chaos Emeralds," said Nicole.

"That's probably a good guess," said Sonic. "So what's the plan?"

"Eggman will be expecting you Sonic. So let's throw him a curve and have me go after him instead. With my Cyclone walker, he won't stand a chance," said Tails.

"But if he's holding Angel hostage, that complicates things significantly," said Sonic. Suddenly, he noticed that a certain echidna wasn't with them. Looking around, he gritted his teeth as he realized this. "Oh that Knuckles makes me so mad sometimes! He ditched us to go after those shards!"

"Are you serious?" asked Tails, looking around as well. But the crimson echidna was nowhere to be seen. "I swear he has a one track mind when it comes to that Master Emerald."

"Well, too late to worry about it now. But he's gonna get a major yelling at from me when we see him again," said Sonic with a frown.

"Hey you two!" hollered an unfamiliar female voice from further down the corridor. Both of them looked up to see a female bat mobian running in their direction.

"Must be the president's agent," said Tails.

"Good timing," said Sonic as Rouge reached them. "So what's the word Rouge?" The statement caused Rouge to blink slightly, not expecting them to know her name. But she quickly recovered.

"Seems like you two boys know who I am so we'll skip the introductions. Your friend Angel's being held in the main control room by Eggman," said Rouge.

"We know. Nicole just informed us," said Tails.

"Any clue where Shadow's hanging out right now?" asked Sonic.

"Sorry. He's been missing for a while now. I honestly have no idea where at on the ARK he is," said Rouge.

"I don't like the fact he could pop up from anywhere while we're on this mission," said Sonic.

"Well, regardless of him, do you have plan on how to get us out of this mess?" asked Rouge.

"Tails suggested we split up, though I'm not sure that's the best thing to do," said Sonic.

"Do it," said Rouge. "One of you go save Angel and the other one take out the cannon's power core. Eggman wanted me to split you guys up and it'll keep my cover safe for a little while longer."

"What's the point in staying on his side at the moment?" asked Tails.

"If he knows my loyalties don't lie with him, I become a liability. That'll make pulling this off a lot harder," said Rouge.

"I actually agree with that. The problem is I have no way to destroy the core once I get there," said Sonic.

"I have something in here that'll make the job a cinch," said Tails as he pulled a metal box from a compartment in the walker. He then opened the box, revealing the indigo Chaos Emerald. "Just put this in the core and we'll be golden."

"I don't get it Tails. We want to keep our emerald out of the core, not put it in there," said Sonic, now totally confused.

"This isn't the real Chaos Emerald," said Tails as he took the gem out of the box. "It looks exactly like it though. It even has a small portion of the real emerald's power in it, so not even a machine can tell the difference. That gives it the same wave lengths and properties. It's just a lot less powerful than the real one is."

"You made a fake Chaos Emerald? But how?" asked Rouge, looking at the gem closely, not really believing the young fox.

"I've been studying our Chaos Emerald for a while now. It took several weeks, but I figured out how to contain the real emerald's power inside a proxy shell like this one so that it literally became a copy of it. But I couldn't duplicate the real emerald's power. So I asked Comet to drain a small bit of power from the real one into the fake one," said Tails.

"So what happens when this fake emerald comes into contact with the other six?" asked Sonic.

"Normally when the seven emeralds are together, they fully stabilize each other. But since this emerald's a fake, it causes the real emeralds to instead become volatile when its near them," said Tails.

"So then the real emeralds start to fluctuate even crazier than they normally do. That's actually perfect," said Rouge.

"Why's that?" asked Sonic.

"Because the cannon's already having massive power fluctuations because the emeralds are unstable inside the cannon's power core. Shadow said that if the last emerald wasn't placed inside of it within twenty four hours, the cannon would basically melt down," said Rouge.

"Couldn't we just wait till that happens then?" asked Sonic.

"I doubt Eggman will let the cannon just melt down without using it again," said Tails.

"Yeah...You're probably right. Better to be safe than sorry. Give me the fake emerald" said Sonic, reaching his hand out. Tails placed it into the hedgehog's waiting hand. "I'll head for the cannon's core room. Tails, you see if you can help out Angel and Nicole."

"I'll get them out of there, don't you worry," said Tails as he gunned the walker's controls as it started stomping down the corridor.

"Is there anything I can do to help out that won't blow my cover?" asked Rouge. Sonic thought about it for a moment, then nodded his head.

"Actually there is. We brought another friend of ours with us, but he decided to just up and abandon us. He's going after the Master Emerald shards that got ejected onto the ARK's surface just before we landed. I'd appreciate it if you could find him and get him to help us out," said Sonic.

"So you brought that stubborn echidna with you, huh? I'd be happy to find him for ya. I have to give him back the shard I still have anyways" said Rouge. She paused for a moment, then smiled as an idea came to her. Keying her watch communicator, she motioned for Sonic to be silent.

"So are they splitting up?" asked Eggman's voice over the communicator.

"They sure are. But they did tell me something interesting before they did split up and sent me back to their ship to wait for them," said Rouge.

"And what would that be?" asked Eggman.

"Apparently that Knuckles friend of theirs brought the Master Emerald shards with him and now he's out on the ARK's surface looking for them. If you can figure out where they are I can go and steal them before he has a chance to find them," said Rouge.

"Getting those shards would give us an even bigger bargaining chip than the girl! Give me a minute to see if the ARK's sensors can pick them up," said Eggman. Sonic gave Rouge a thumbs up, to which she just winked in return. After nearly half a minute, Eggman's voice came back over the communicator.

"They're in a brown sack that's hanging onto the edge of one of the communications towers on the ARK's surface. Coordinates twenty three north by thirteen east of the ARK's center," said Eggman.

"Got it. I'll get them and head back for the cannon's power core as fast as I can. I'll make sure to defend the Chaos Emeralds with my life," said Rouge before she cut the transmission. "I should beat him there no problem. He has to navigate the ARK's surface to get to that tower. I can just use the maintenance hatch to get almost right along side of it. So I'll just collect the sack and wait for him."

"Sounds like a plan," said Sonic. "Now to see if I can't throw a wrench into Eggman's plans." With that, Sonic took off down the corridor as Rouge took off in the other direction.

* * *

Shadow's eyes narrowed as he felt an all too familiar presence that was just now leaving the north airlock at an exceptional speed. Yet, even as he felt the presence of the last Chaos Emerald moving through the ARK, something about it was definitely weird. The Chaos Emeralds in the cannon's core were giving off a very large signal that was very easy for him to detect at this range. However, this new emerald was barely giving off enough energy for him to sense it.

"Why does it feel so insignificant compared to the other six?" asked Shadow to himself as he stared out the window of Maria's living quarters. He then keyed his watch communicator. "Doctor, I can sense the last Chaos Emerald is heading in the direction of the power core. However, its energy signal is vastly weaker than the other six. Do you have any idea why that is?"

"It would seem they're trying to pull a fast one on us. I'm willing to bet my intellect that the Chaos Emerald your sensing is a fake. Which means the real emerald is with whoever doesn't have the fake one," said Eggman.

"Well, by the speed of which it's traveling, my money is that the blue hedgehog has it. Do I have permission to engage him?" asked Shadow.

"No. I have a special surprise in store for our spiny blue pest. One that will definitely go off with a bang," said Eggman as he started to laugh.

"Then what are my orders? I'd prefer to not sit on the sidelines the whole time," said Shadow.

"Rouge is currently collecting a special item for me at the moment, but she said she was going to go to the cannon's power core after retrieving it. I have a sneaking suspicion that she's up to something. I want you to hide in the power core's room and make sure she doesn't double cross us like I think she's going to do," said Eggman.

"If she tries anything, I'll be sure to put her in her place," said Shadow.

"However, don't go quite yet. I want you to bear witness to my triumph over Sonic. So keep your eyes glued to the windows for a little while longer. You'll know when that time has come. Then go to the core," said Eggman.

"Understood. I'll be watching with interest," said Shadow.

August 26, 2323 16:57

Rouge grunted as she dangled precariously over the side of the top of the communications tower. As she had predicted, she had beaten Knuckles to the sack holding the Master Emerald shards. Now she was trying her best to retrieve the sack from its resting spot as it hung by a bolt that was sticking out of the tower.

"Come on...almost...got it..." she said as she stretched her arm further towards the sack. She wished her wing wasn't broken. If she could still fly it would've been a piece of cake to retrieve the sack. As it was, she was barely able to touch it with her fingers as she held herself by one hand over the side of the tower's top.

"Hey!" shouted a loud, gruff voice from above her. The bat let out a cry of surprise as she instinctually jumped from the shock. However, this caused her to accidently loose her grip on the edge of the tower. But she barely fell a foot before someone grasped her hand, stopping her fall. Looking up, she saw Knuckles staring down at her, a look of anger on his face.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing scaring me like that!?" cried Rouge angrily up at the echinda.

"Never mind that, just grab the sack. You're close enough now," said Knuckles. Rouge muttered something under her breath as she looked back down. Just as Knuckles said, she was easily in range now to grab the sack. After she had taken it off the bolt and had a secure hold on it, Knuckles pulled her back up to the top of the tower. Rouge set the sack down and then slumped into a sitting position. She gave a sigh of relief, then looked up at Knuckles who was standing over her with his arms crossed.

"I'm...sorry I yelled at you. If you hadn't caught me I'd probably be dead right now," said Rouge as she looked away from him.

"You're a bat. Why didn't you just fly out there and get it?" asked Knuckles. Rouge just jerked a thumb back at her broken wing. Knuckles' anger quickly disappeared as he finally noticed the injured wing. "Oh...I didn't know..."

"It's okay," said Rogue as she looked back up at him. "But you know, you really set Sonic off I think abandoning him and Tails to come after these shards. Are they really so important that you'd ditch your friends when they really needed your help?"

"Like I care if Sonic's mad at me for doing that. He knows just how important the duty of guarding the Master Emerald is to me," said Knuckles.

"Well, you should try letting go a little bit. If for no other reason than to help out the people you care about," said Rouge. Knuckles just frowned in response.

"I don't need you lecturing me. You're the whole reason the Master Emerald is even in pieces right now," said Knuckles angrily.

"You're right," said Rouge. She then stood back up and reached into her jumpsuit as she retrieved her shard. She then held it out towards the echidna. "I believe this is yours." Knuckles' anger turned to shock at seeing the bat willingly handing over the shard that she had retrieved.

"You're giving it back? Just like that?" asked Knuckles, unsure if the bat was trying to trick him.

"You're friends with Angel. I don't want to keep something that belongs to one of her friends. Not after everything she's been through and done for me," said Rouge.

"Thanks. I guess you aren't all that bad after all," said Knuckles as he took the shard from her.

"Hun, I'm one of the nicest people you'll meet if you ever get a chance to know me better," said Rouge. Knuckles blushed slightly, wondering if the bat was trying to come onto him all of sudden. Rouge just smirked as she saw his reaction to her statement.

"What makes you think I even want to get to know a thief like you?" asked Knuckles, folding his arms over his chest as he turned away from her.

"Not saying you have to, echidna boy. But I won't turn you down if you do want to be friends," said Rouge as she held out her hand towards Knuckles. Knuckles glanced down, then sighed as he reached out and gripped her hand.

"Alright...I suppose I'll give you a chance at being a friend. After all, if Angel likes you, then you must have a decent heart underneath that thief exterior," said Knuckles.

"Yeah, that girl is something else. She believes Shadow has a good heart underneath all that bluster he has," said Rouge.

"Sonic told me she views people and life in general a lot more openly now than when he first met her all those months ago," said Knuckles.

"That she does. I just hope it doesn't get her into trouble later on," said Rouge.

"Same here," said Knuckles.

"Now then, let's get off this tower and see if we can't help out the situation inside the ARK," said Rouge as she stared walking towards the maintenance ladder on the side of the tower.

"First I'm dropping these shards back at our ship," said Knuckles. This just caused Rouge to roll her eyes in defeat.

"Then do that if you want to first. I'm going back inside to help out," said Rouge.

August 26, 2323 17:22

Eggman waited with baited breath as the entrance to the ARK's main control room started to open. He was seated inside his walker, a hand held blaster aimed right at a seated Angel. As the door finally opened, the Cyclone stepped into the room.

"Angel!" shouted Tails as he spotted the pink furred echidna tied up on the far side of the room.

"That's far enough Tails," said Eggman as he pressed the tip of the blaster's barrel against Angel's forehead.

"Sorry Tails. I didn't think he'd go to this kind of extreme," said Angel with a sorry look on her face.

"Are you alright?" asked Tails.

"I've been better," she replied.

"That's enough out of the both of you," said Eggman as he punched a command into his walker as the communications grid of the ARK became active. "I hope you're listening to this Sonic. I know you're headed for the cannon's core to destroy it."

* * *

Just outside the cannon's power core room, Sonic frowned as he heard Eggman's voice over the ARK's communications grid. He had just been reaching for the door's controls when Eggman had stopped him in his tracks.

"Unfortunately if you follow through with destroying the cannon, it will cost you the life of the young echidna I have tied up in the control room," said Eggman's voice. Sonic gritted his teeth as he heard that.

"However, I'm in a generous mood. I know you have the last remaining Chaos Emerald. If you bring it to me, then I'll spare the girl's life. You have twenty minutes to get here and hand it over. Otherwise, the girl's life will expire," said Eggman's voice before the signal cut out. Sonic's look of anger was suddenly replaced by a grin.

"Eggman, you just made my job a lot easier. By giving you the fake emerald, I'll kill two birds with one stone," said Sonic. He then turned around and took off down the corridor in the direction of the control room.

August 26, 2323 17:40

"You're blue friend only has a couple of minutes left to get here echidna," said Eggman as he kept an eye on the door. As if on cue, Sonic stepped around the side of the door and walked into the room, coming to a stop next to the Cyclone.

"I'm sorry Sonic...I had no choice but to stand down," said Tails regrettably.

"It's alright, big guy. Eggman's just playing dirty like he always does," said Sonic.

"You say that like it surprises you," said Eggman with a smile on his face. He then spotted the fake emerald in Sonic's hand. "I see you decided to bring me the emerald as I requested. This echidna should be very grateful to you that you saw things my way."

"Like you left me a choice," said Sonic with a frown. "So, do you want me to just bring it over to you or what?"

"No. With your speed you'd get the girl out of danger before I could react if you were to get close enough," said Eggman. He then pointed at the center of the room. "I want you to place the emerald down in the center of the room. Do it slowly. After you've set it down, then back off nice and easy."

"I can't believe you finally got the better of me Egghead," said Sonic with disgust as he started walking towards the center of the room. Tails barely kept a smile off his face as he realized what Sonic was doing. _That's a brilliant move Sonic! If he takes the fake emerald_ and _let's Angel go, then we win without lifting a finger,_ thought Tails. By now, Sonic had reached the center of the room.

"Right here?" asked Sonic as he knelt down to place the emerald on the floor.

"Right there is perfect," said Eggman with a smile. He then pressed a button on the control board of his walker. Suddenly, a see-thru capsule instantly rose out of the floor and trapped Sonic inside of it.

"What in the heck is this!?" cried Sonic, dropping the emerald and standing back up.

"You must really take me for an idiot, hedgehog. Did you honestly think that fake emerald would fool me that easily?" asked Eggman.

"But how did you know that wasn't the real one?" asked Tails, surprised that Eggman had seen through their trick.

"Tails!" shouted Sonic from inside the capsule. Eggman just let out a bellow of laughter.

"Because you just confirmed it you foolish fur ball," said Eggman. Tails could only blink in shock as he realized he had just told Eggman that his assumption had been right.

"If you think this thing's gonna hold me for even a second, you're dead wrong Eggman," said Sonic as he curled into a spindash and started bouncing around the capsule. But not even a crack formed on the reinforced material that comprised the capsule as Sonic finally uncurled from his attack.

"Ha! That capsule was designed to keep Shadow imprisoned incase he ever became a threat when he lived here fifty years ago. So you obviously can't break it either," said Eggman.

"So you just gonna keep me locked in here for the rest of my life?" asked Sonic.

"Oh no. You're life won't last but a few moments more. In twenty seconds, the capsule will automatically launch from the ARK and head out towards space. Once it clears the colony after thirty more seconds, the capsule will explode taking you with it!" said Eggman as he started laughing maniacally. He was suddenly taken by surprise as Angel leapt to her feet, easily breaking free of her bonds as she ran over to the capsule.

"How did you get loose!?" cried Eggman.

"Hold on Sonic! I'll break you out!" shouted Angel as she curled up her fists and started swinging for all she was worth at the capsule. But even with her strength, she couldn't damage it anymore than Sonic could from inside.

"That's enough Angel..." said Sonic softly as Angel fell to her knees. She looked back up at him with tears forming in her eyes. Sonic looked over at Tails as he too was starting to tear up.

"Tails...I'm counting on you to stop Eggman. Don't give him the last emerald no matter what," said Sonic. He then looked back down at Angel.

"And Angel...keep looking for your purpose in our world. I know you'll find it someday," said Sonic.

"Three...two...one...Show time!" shouted Eggman as the capsule launched from the colony. Tails piloted the Cyclone over to the viewing window as Angel joined him. They could see the small engine exhaust coming off the bottom of the capsule as it headed out to space.

"No! Sonic!" cried Tails as the capsule exploded a short time later into a fireball, quickly dispersing as it left nothing behind in its wake. The young fox felt his eyes burning with tears that he felt would never stop flowing.

"Sonic!" cried Angel as she fell to her knees once again, crying to herself as well.

"And that's the end of that thorn in my side for good! Farewell, my worthy adversary!" said Eggman. He then turned his walker to face Tails and Angel.

"Now then, we have some unfinished business to attend to. If you give me the real emerald, I'll let you both leave the ARK alive. You have my promise," said Eggman. But the look of fear he expected to see on Tails' face as the fox turned the Cyclone walker around to face him wasn't there. Instead, his face was one of pure rage.

"Eggman! I won't let you get away with this! I'll avenge Sonic if it's the last thing I do!" he cried as he aimed the Cyclone's main weapon towards Eggman. Now it was Eggman's turn to have a very nervous look on his own face as he saw the Cyclone Laser starting to charge up to fire.

"Tails you fool! If you fire that weapon in here, you could very well blow a hole out into space! You'll kill us all!" cried Eggman as he tried to talk Tails down from his current course of action.

"I don't care!" shouted Tails as the laser finished charging. Eggman instantly jumped free of his own walker just as a brilliant beam of light blue chaos energy fired from the Cyclone's nose cone. The beam slammed into Eggman's walker, causing it to explode in a shower of shrapnel as Eggman was thrown to the ground by the force of the blast. Eggman quickly got into a seated position and started rapidly backing away from the Cyclone as Tails turned it to face him.

"No! No you can't do this!" shouted Eggman as the Cyclone stomped towards him, his back now up against the wall behind him. But he knew he couldn't talk his way out of the situation. The young fox's eyes were burning with a rage that Eggman never knew a child of his age could possess. But as the Cyclone's tail mounted laser cannon took aim at Eggman, an unexpected person threw themselves into the line of fire.

"Tails stop!" cried Angel as she stood in front of Eggman.

"Get out of the way Angel! He killed Sonic! I have to avenge him!" yelled Tails.

"This isn't the answer! If you take his life now in cold blood you'll be murdering him! Do you really think Sonic would want you to become a murderer?" she asked him.

"But he...but he..." stuttered Tails as he closed his eyes tight.

"I know...But killing him won't bring Sonic back. And we can't soil our memory of him by taking even Eggman's life in cold blood. Sonic would never want you, or any of us for that matter, to cross that line," said Angel softly. Tails gritted his teeth, the laser cannon still aimed at Eggman through Angel's body.

"You're right...He wouldn't want this," said Tails softly as he disengaged the cannon. Eggman breathed a loud sigh of relief as he fell to the floor at the echidna's feet.

"Oh thank you! Thank you for talking sense into that crazy kid!" cried Eggman. Tails suddenly jumped out of the walker and landed next to Eggman.

"You aren't off the hook by a long shot," said Tails before he socked Eggman in the face as hard as he could. The doctor went limp as Tails' punch knocked him unconscious. Tails then spit on Eggman's back.

"You don't deserve to live. But I'll honor Sonic's memory by making sure you're locked up for the rest of your life," said Tails.

"We should go meet up with Rouge. I overheard her talking to Eggman that she was going to head for the cannon's power core a little while ago," said Angel.

"Let's get going then," said Tails as he started running towards the room's exit, Angel close behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

August 26, 2323 17:41

As the containment capsule holding Sonic sped away from the ARK, the blue hedgehog knew Eggman had finally had the last laugh. His thoughts then drifted to his friends. Tails. The genius kid who could more than carry his weight when it counted. Angel. The kind hearted, time travelling warrior still searching for her purpose in their world. Knuckle. The thick headed echidna who he could just never stay mad at for too long. And Sally. The friend that could always cheer him up even when he was feeling at his lowest.

"I'm sorry guys...I failed..." said Sonic as he closed his eyes and fell to the capsule's floor. As his legs spread out, his left leg touched the fake Chaos Emerald that was still sealed inside the capsule with him. Sonic glanced over at it, then suddenly opened his eyes wide as he recalled what Tails had said earlier.

"It looks exactly like it though. It even has a small portion of the real emerald's power in it, so not even a machine can tell the difference. That's because with the real emerald's power in it, it has the same wave lengths and properties. It's just a lot less powerful than the real one is," Tails had said when he had first given the fake emerald to Sonic.

"It has the same properties as the real emerald because it has a small portion of its power in it," said Sonic to himself as he picked up the emerald.

"But...even so...can I really do this?" he asked himself. Realizing he didn't have any time to second guess himself, he closed his eyes and started concentrating on the fake emerald's energy. It was definitely a lot weaker than the real one, but Sonic could distinctly feel its energy tingling in the back of his mind.

 _Alright...here goes nothing,_ he thought as he tried to distinguish any possible element of power in the emerald's energy field that could be what he was searching for. A few more seconds passed before Sonic's eyes suddenly jerked open as he thought he felt what he was looking for.

"Chaos Control!" he cried as the emerald's glow intensified before a flash of light erupted from it. The light filled the capsule for a brief instant before dying out. Less than two seconds later, the capsule finally cleared the ARK and exploded in a giant fireball.

* * *

Shadow watched from the viewing window in Maria's living quarters as the capsule holding Sonic raced away from the space colony. The black hedgehog knew that Sonic was in it because Eggman wouldn't have launched it otherwise. As the capsule cleared the colony, it exploded in a ball of fire.

"I guess in the end there wasn't anything special about him after all," said Shadow to himself as he watched the last of the fire dissipate. He then turned and started walking out of the room. "Now to make sure our batty friend doesn't double cross us."

* * *

"Ugh...I really wish I'd followed that bat back inside instead of going back to the ship first. I didn't think it would take me this long to get back here from the outside," said Knuckles to himself with annoyance as he walked inside the shuttle. Placing the sack with the Master Emerald shards down in the front of the ship, he sat down in the pilot's chair and gave a sigh. It had taken him a few days, but the Master Emerald shards were finally all accounted for.

Now all that was left to do was return to Floating Island and put the Master Emerald back together at its spot in the Hidden Palace. Frowning as he realized now wasn't the time to be thinking about that, Knuckles got up and left the ship. But as he stepped back out onto the ARK's surface again, a flash of light erupted in front of him.

"Where is that light coming from?" he said aloud before a soft thud sounded from where the light was coming from. But just as quickly as it appeared, the light vanished, leaving behind a most unexpected sight.

"Ha! I can't believe that actually worked!" cried Sonic as he got into a seat position just in front of Knuckles. He was looking down at the fake indigo emerald in his right hand with a giant smile on his face.

"Sonic!? Where the heck did you come from and what was that light show all about?" asked Knuckles. Sonic looked over at Knuckles, his grin still just as big.

"I just figured out how to do Shadow's Chaos Control trick, that's what. Now I owe him two thanks," said Sonic as he got back to his feet.

"What are you talking about? What's Chaos Control?" asked Knuckles.

"I'll fill you in later, but right now we gotta move," said Sonic. He glanced down at his watch, then frowned. "Not good. I don't have enough time to get back down to the cannon's power core before that weapon is fired again."

"So then what's the plan?" asked Knuckles.

"I'm going to go disable the cannon from the outside. A couple of Light Speed Attacks should breach the cannon's armor plating and allow me to damage it significantly. Hopefully that'll be enough to shut it down," said Sonic. He then looked back at Knuckles. "While I'm doing that, you go meet up with Tails and Angel and see if you can help them in some way."

"I'm on it," said Knuckles with a nod. He then opened the airlock and ran inside the ARK. Sonic watched him leave, then turned to face the outside of the ARK.

"Should only take me a few minutes to navigate to the center of the ARK's outside. I'll bet my speed that's where I'll find whatever passes for a barrel for the cannon," said Sonic. He then took off with a sonic boom.

August 26, 2323 17:53

The door leading to the Eclipse Cannon's power core room opened with a whoosh. Rouge looked around the room, wondering if Shadow was indeed inside preparing to fire the cannon again. But to her surprise, the black hedgehog wasn't waiting for her.

"Well where in the world is he?" she asked herself. She then shrugged and ran over to the control board. Reaching into her jumpsuit, she pulled Nicole out and set her down on the control panel. "You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," said Nicole as she projected her lynx image next to Rouge.

"Just hurry. We don't know where Shadow is so he could pop in any moment," said Rouge. She wouldn't have to wait long.

"So the doctor was right about you," said someone from behind the two girls. Both turned around to see Shadow standing at the entrance to the room, his arms crossed over his chest. "You are you really working for? Are you working for G.U.N.? Or maybe someone higher on the food chain perhaps?"

"Well, it seems like you finally caught me after all this time Shady," said Rouge as she turned around and faced him.

"Tell your AI friend to disengage from the cannon's controls this instant or you'll wish you'd never stepped foot onto the ARK," said Shadow as he started crossing over towards them. Nicole and Rouge glanced at each other, a nod from the bat signaling for Nicole to stand down. The lynx nodded in return, turning away from the controls.

"The truth is I work for G.U.N. as one of their top agents, but I also work as a double agent for the president of the United Nation," said Rouge.

"So what was your role in all of this supposed to be?" asked Shadow as he reached the two girls.

"G.U.N. wanted me to find a way to capture you and bring you back in without the world discovering you. At the same time they wanted me to find out what Eggman was planning to use you for," said Rouge.

"That figures. G.U.N. has always feared me ever since I was created," said Shadow. "But you said you also work for the president. What mission did he have you doing behind G.U.N.'s back?"

"The president wanted me to learn everything I could about Project Shadow and to also try and stop Eggman," said Rouge. "I found Project Shadow's files. But they were strange." This caused Shadow to cock an eyebrow.

"Strange how?" he asked. Rouge looked over at Nicole.

"Can you project the files that we found for him?" asked Rouge.

"Easily," said Nicole. She waved her left hand in front of her as several images appeared in front of her facing Shadow. Shadow began to read over them, then just gave a scoff after finishing.

"So you found the files for that failed prototype that came before me. What's so strange about that?" asked Shadow.

"That wasn't the strange part," said Rouge. "Inside these files Nicole discovered that there is another file that has a voice activated security lock."

"So? The professor did that quite a bit when he wanted to keep his work private," said Shadow.

"But Shadow...This file's voice recognition is set to your voice," said Nicole. Shadow's face reflected his confusion by that statement.

"Why is it set for my voice to be the one to open it?" asked Shadow.

"Heck if we know hun," said Rouge with a shrug. "The problem is we can't open it or the information file that accompanies it even if you were to activate the security lock."

"Why not?" asked Shadow, his curiosity caught for the moment.

"Because the file is severely damaged by a computer virus the likes of which I've never seen," said Nicole. "It would take me months to clean the files enough to be opened."

"Those files don't matter to me at this point," said Shadow, his curiosity vanishing as a look of anger replaced it. "I don't care what's happened in the past because I know what my future is. Now I'm going to give you both one chance to leave this room and never enter it again. The doctor will be arriving with the last emerald before long. Then all will finally be in place."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Rouge.

"It doesn't concern you. Now get out before I change my mind about letting you walk away without incident," said Shadow.

"Alright Shadow. We'll leave. But I fear this path you're taking is going to destroy you," said Rouge.

"It very well may, but that's my decision to make," said Shadow. Rouge just sighed before picking Nicole's physical self off the control panel, her image vanishing. Rouge then walked across the bridge and out of the room, leaving Shadow behind. Suddenly, Shadow's watch communicator started chiming at him as he pressed the button. "I'm here doctor. You were right about Rouge."

"I knew it! Please tell me you put her in her place," said Eggman.

"I let her go, but she won't try to take the emeralds again. Not if she values her life," said Shadow.

"So long as the emeralds are safe, that's all that matters. I just retrieved the final one from that foolish fox's walker. They were gone when I woke up. I'm guessing they're trying to meet up with either Rouge or Knuckles," said Eggman. Shadow reached out with his mind, easily feeling the presence of the final emerald in the main control room of the ARK. Smiling as he realized that the moment was nigh at hand, he suddenly felt a slight twinge in the back of his mind. Focusing on it, he realized what it was he was sensing.

"Doctor. I'm sensing that fake emerald moving across the ARK's surface," said Shadow.

"It must be another one. I wouldn't put it past that two tailed nuisance to have made two of those just to try and confuse us even more. I'm betting Knuckles has it," said Eggman. _No...It's moving too fast to be anyone other than him_ , thought Shadow.

"I'll intercept them before they reach the cannon," said Shadow. "In the meantime, place the final emerald in the core as soon as you can. We're almost out of time till the cannon's power core melts from the power fluctuations."

"I'll head down there immediately," said Eggman, cutting the transmission.  
"Looks like I'll get to settle my score with him after all," said Shadow as he closed his eyes, concentrating on where the fake emerald was moving. As he got a lock onto its position, he opened his eyes as a smile spread across his face. The signal had stopped moving just outside of the Eclipse Cannon's armor shielding. He then walked over and placed a hand on one of the emeralds resting in the cannon's core as he concentrated on its power.

"Chaos Control!" he cried, vanishing in a flash of light, but leaving the emerald that he'd used behind.

* * *

Sonic stared up at the giant, armor plated barrel of the Eclipse Cannon. Only now did he realize just how big it was.

"Man...I'm not sure if even my Light Speed Attack could get through that thing," said Sonic. A flash of light behind him caught his attention, the blue hedgehog turning around as he knew the time of his rematch with Shadow was at hand. As he expected, the black hedgehog was standing behind him with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Look who finally decided to join the party," said Sonic as he turned fully around to face Shadow.

"I've sat on the sidelines for long enough," said Shadow.

"That's good, cause I wanted to run into you at least one more time before this was all over," said Sonic.

"Funny. I was wanting the same thing," said Shadow.

"I see. Before we get this show on the road, I have to thank you twice," said Sonic. Shadow cocked an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Thank me for what?" asked Shadow, genuinely confused.

"The first is for saving Angel from Prison Island's destruction," said Sonic. "It tore at me when I thought she was lost to us. She's too good a person to have deserved such a fate. So again, thank you for sparing her."

"If you're waiting for me to say 'you're welcome', you'll be waiting a long time," said Shadow. "That echidna's been trying to mess with my mind every step of the way through all of this." Sonic frowned at hearing that statement.

"She's never tried to manipulate anyone, nor do I think she's even capable of it. Not after everything that's happened to her." Now it was Shadow's turn to frown.

"The bat said something similar to me yesterday," said Shadow. "What happened in her past?"

"I'm sorry, but that's her place to tell you, not mine," said Sonic. Shadow just smiled in response.

"Very well. Then allow me to ask you a different question," said Shadow.

"Ask away," said Sonic.

"How did you escape from that capsule the doctor launched from the ARK?" asked Shadow.

"That's the other thanks I owe you," said Sonic as he held up the fake Chaos Emerald. "This little trinket is the reason I'm still alive and kicking."

"That's impossible! There's no way you could've been able to activate Chaos Control, especially with an emerald that's fake!" cried Shadow with disbelief.

"What's the matter Shadow? Worried you're little edge over me is now lost?" asked Sonic with a smirk. Shadow collected himself, then started chuckling to himself. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. It's just as I suspected after our fight on Prison Island. You _are_ special. I still don't know what it is about you that is. But for you to have learned how to use Chaos Control in just a couple of days after only seeing me perform it twice in front of you? It just proves my suspicions about you," said Shadow.

"I'm nothing special," said Sonic with a smirk. "All I am is just a hedgehog who loves to run fast, hang out with his friends, and live each day to the fullest."

"Is that so?" said Shadow with a frown. "Well, its too bad this will be the last day that you'll be able 'live to the fullest' after I'm finished with you. I refuse to allow some pretender to mock my status as the world's ultimate life form any longer!" He then got into a fighting position.

"It's too bad it ended this way Shadow. You could've done so much good for the world if you had wanted to," said Sonic as he got set as well. Shadow stiffened slightly at hearing that. That phrase sounded oddly familiar to him. As if it was a whisper in the back of his mind.

Quickly shaking it from his thoughts, Shadow shot forward at Sonic, throwing a punch right at his face. But Sonic dodged to the left and swung with his left foot at Shadow's side. Shadow quickly flipped away from Sonic's attack, then lunged forward again, only to have his next punch blocked by the blue hedgehog. Back and forth they attacked each other when they thought there was an opening for nearly three minutes.

"So it seems you're just as sharp as you were during our fight on the island," said Shadow with a smirk as he backed off from Sonic.

"I could say the same thing Shadow," said Sonic as he backed away from the black hedgehog as well. As soon as Sonic stopped moving, Shadow noticed that the fake emerald's glow was intensifying. Sonic then vanished in a flash of light. Shadow instantly threw a high kick towards his right side in response.

Sonic reappeared in another flash of light just in time to get kicked in the face by Shadow. Flying backwards and landing on his back, Sonic was slow to get back up having not expected to be attacked.

"How'd you know where I was going to appear?" asked Sonic.

"That fake emerald may give you the ability to activate Chaos Control, but I can sense where it's at no matter where it goes near me. To put it simply, I can tell where you're going to reappear before you do," said Shadow.

"I doubt that. I think you just got lucky is all that was," said Sonic.

"Trust me, you have barely scratched the surface of how to use Chaos Control. But before this fight is over, I'll show you just how much I've mastered my chaos abilities," said Shadow.

"You're overconfident Shadow. That'll lead to your defeat," said Sonic.

"If you think my confidence is misplaced, then try using Chaos Control to attack me again," said Shadow with a smirk. Sonic gritted his teeth in response to the taunt.

"Alright. Let's see you keep up with me this time," said Sonic as the fake emerald's glow intensified again. Once more, a flash of light enveloped Sonic. Shadow once again threw another kick, this time right in front of him. And once again, Sonic reappeared just in time to get hit by Shadow's attack as he was sent flying again. Landing on his back, Sonic looked back up at Shadow with a look of total shock on his face.

"Shall we continue this little game, because I for one am enjoying myself," said Shadow with a smile. Sonic gave a grunt before standing back up.

"No thanks. You've proven your point," said Sonic.

"Good. Now if you'll allow me to try attacking you, I'll show you an ability you haven't seen yet," said Shadow. Sonic tensed up. _What else can Shadow do that I haven't seen?_ he thought. Shadow then pulled his left fist up next to his right shoulder. Sonic watched as a faint yellow glow started to emit from Shadow's closed fist.

"Chaos Spear!" cried Shadow, opening his fist as he flung his hand in Sonic's direction. A ball of yellow chaos energy was launched from Shadow's palm that was aimed right at Sonic. Thankfully for Sonic, he wasn't slow on the rebound and leapt out of the way of the energy ball. The ball sailed past him only to slam into the armor plating of the cannon and explode, leaving a massive dent in the side of the plating. Sonic gazed wide eyed at the results of Shadow's attack.

"I take it you're impressed?" asked Shadow, his smirk still fully beaming at Sonic.

"I definitely didn't think you could do something like that," said Sonic.

"Of course. I _am_ the ultimate life form after all. You can't begin to comprehend my abilities. The one I just performed I call the 'Chaos Spear'. I gather chaos energy from the air around me and then launch it as a ball of energy at my foe," said Shadow.

"I'm beginning now to see why you're called the ultimate life form. You're definitely a cut above anyone I've ever met," said Sonic, sweat appearing on his brow. This attack was something Sonic had never experienced before. And there was no telling if that was Shadow's best move or not.

"Glad to see you're finally catching on. Now then, the beginner's lesson is over. Let's see if your speed and ability to use Chaos Control can keep you one step ahead of my next attack," said Shadow. He then closed both of his fists as energy began to gather in both hands. Sonic braced himself, waiting for the right moment to dodge. But to his surprise, Shadow suddenly vanished in a flash of light. Instantly realizing what Shadow had done, Sonic activated Chaos Control as well. As soon as he vanished, Shadow reappeared and fired two more Chaos Spears at point blank range exactly where Sonic had been standing. Two explosions threw up a fair amount of dirt and rock that made up the ARK's outer surface. Shadow smiled, looking behind him as Sonic reappeared several yards behind him.

"Well done! That was an excellent reaction time. You might just survive against me for a little bit," said Shadow as he turned around to face Sonic. But while Shadow was full of confidence, Sonic's own confidence was faltering. _I barely got out of that blast in time. At this rate, he really_ will _manage to kill me,_ thought Sonic as sweat began to appear on his brow.

"You may have the edge now Shadow, but I won't be beaten by you. You can count on it," said Sonic.

"Then let's turn up the heat a little. This time, I'll use Chaos Control several times before I launch my next attack. Let's see if you can keep up," said Shadow. He then vanished in another flash of light. He began to reappear and disappear in random places all around Sonic. _There's only one thing I can do at this point,_ thought Sonic. He then activated Chaos Control. But unlike last time when he had appeared near where Shadow was located, he instead reappeared back at the space shuttle.

"I can't compete with him like this," said Sonic as closed his eyes in frustration. "There must be a way to beat him. But how?" He stood thinking for a few seconds before a thought crossed his mind. _Shadow said he uses chaos energy to launch that attack. But that means I should be able to do something similar using the fake emerald's energy just like how I can use Chaos Control, right?_ he thought.

He reached out with his mind, feeling the fake emerald's energy in the back of his mind. He then tried to concentrate it into his hand. Sure enough, a slight blue glow began to appear around Sonic's hand. Smiling to himself, Sonic realized that while he had figured out how to launch his own attack, Shadow wouldn't stand still long enough to attack him. _Then I'll have to make an opening,_ he thought. Activating Chaos Control again, he reappeared next to a smiling Shadow back at their battle sight.

"Welcome back, blue hedgehog. And here I'd thought you'd given up and ran away with your tail between your legs," said Shadow.

"As if," said Sonic with a smile. "I just needed a moment to strategize is all."

"Really? Well, if your through 'strategizing', shall we get back to our battle?" asked Shadow. Sonic merely nodded. "Good. This time, I won't let up. I _will_ finish you off the next time I catch you." Shadow then vanished in another flash of light, Sonic following suit. Flashes of light appeared and disappeared all over the immediate area as the two hedgehogs activated Chaos Control over and over again, trying to catch the other one off guard.

Inevitably, Shadow was the one to finally catch up to the other one as he landed a solid kick to Sonic's backside. Sonic fell down to the ground, landing hard on stomach as the air was knocked from him, leaving him wide open. Shadow then reappeared nearly three stories above Sonic, his hands gathering energy in them as his air shoes kept him aloft.

"It's over, blue hedgehog!" cried Shadow as he launched another wave of Chaos Spears at Sonic. Shadow watched with baited breath as the two blasts connected with Sonic, a fairly good sized explosion erupting from their impact. A smile spread over Shadow's face. But as the smoke cleared, Sonic was gone. The smile instantly switched to confusion as a flash of light erupted above Shadow.

"My turn Shadow!" cried Sonic as he reappeared above Shadow, blue energy glowing in his right fist. Shadow instantly looked up, his surprise preventing him from reacting like he should have.

"Chaos Wind!" cried Sonic, thrusting his glowing hand right at Shadow as a powerful blast of wind flew from his palm. The wind threw Shadow straight down back first into the ARK's surface, knocking the wind from him just as it had Sonic a moment ago. Above him, Sonic curled into a spindash and fell right at Shadow.

Shadow opened one eye as he tried to recover, but it was too late. Sonic slammed into Shadow's chest hard. The impact caused cracks to form under him in the ARK's surface as Shadow cried out in pain. Sonic bounced off Shadow and uncurled, landing next to the black hedgehog who was now curled into a ball of pain.

"Now it's over Shadow. You've lost," said Sonic as he stared down at Shadow with a frown. Shadow glared up angrily at Sonic as he tried to get up, but the pain in his chest as too great at the moment for him to gather himself. Suddenly, the entire ARK started to shake violently, nearly throwing Sonic to the ground.

"What the heck is going on!?" asked Sonic. Shadow started to chuckle, despite his pain. It quickly grew into chortling, and then into a steady laugh as Shadow slowly got to one knee and looked up at Sonic.

"It's not over yet, blue hedgehog. In fact, it's only just starting," said Shadow. Sonic looked back down at Shadow with a concerned look on his face.

"What's happening?" asked Sonic.

"It's the beginning of the end. My vengeance upon this world has now begun," said Shadow as he stood back up.

"What do you mean by that Shadow? Tell me!" cried Sonic as he grabbed Shadow by his chest fur angrily.

"Farewell, blue hedgehog. Be sure you make your last thirty minutes count," said Shadow before he vanished in a flash of light. Sonic gritted his teeth in frustration as Shadow teleported away, leaving him behind. _I need to find Tails and the others and find out just what Shadow has done,_ he thought before he vanished in a flash of light as he activated Chaos Control.

August 26, 2323 17:59

The door leading into the Eclipse Cannon's control room opened as Eggman walked in. He was holding a hand up to his head with gritted teeth as he tried to push down the massive headache he now had. In his other hand was the indigo Chaos Emerald he had retrieved from the Cyclone.

"Curse that infernal fox! I swear I'll make him pay for having the audacity to knock me out like that!" cried Eggman, instantly regretting shouting as the pain doubled for a few seconds before returning to a constant throb. He then walked out onto the walkway leading to the cannon's controls and power core. As he arrived, his teeth switched from a grit to a smile. Not caring anymore that his head was killing him, he started to laugh as he placed the final emerald into the cannon's power core. He watched as the power fluctuations quickly vanished from the control's diagnostics.

"Now that all the Chaos Emeralds are in the core, its safe from meltdown. Now its time to lower the boom on the capitol of the Unite Nation. I'll make sure that lousy president doesn't refuse me a second time when I destroy his own city. But I'll have to lower the cannon's output to about five percent power. Any more than that and I might cause more damage than I intend to," said Eggman as he started entering commands into the control panel. But for some reason, the controls weren't responding.

"Why can't I access the cannon's controls?" asked Eggman to himself. Suddenly the blast shielding that had once covered the emeralds' holding place in the power core reclosed. Suddenly, the ARK started to shake violently, nearly throwing Eggman to the ground as he held onto the controls for support.

"What on Mobius is going on!?" cried Eggman before every monitor on the control board winked out. Almost instantly, all but the center one reactivated. But instead of the diagnostic data they once showed, a thirty minute timer was in their place. The timer then started to count down. At the same time, the center monitor began to display a recording of a man that looked similar to Eggman in a straight jacket. On either side of the man was a solider in G.U.N. uniform.

"Wait a second...I know that man," said Eggman as he recognized who it was in the recording.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"We left Eggman in here," said Tails as he, Angel, and Rouge rounded the corner leading into the ARK's main control room. But to their surprise, Eggman was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you sure you knocked him out?" asked Rouge, looking back at Tails who had a stunned look on his face.

"I'm sure I did! I punched him in the face as hard as I could!" said Tails.

"Maybe so, but he obviously woke up real fast," said Rouge. Tails suddenly got a panicked look on his face.

"Oh no...He didn't take it did he?" he cried as he ran over to the Cyclone. Hopping into the pilot's seat, he quickly unlocked the nose cone. Leaping out of the pilot's seat right in front of the walker, he unscrewed the nose cone. Guilt gripped him hard, for as soon as the nose cone was off, he discovered that the real Chaos Emerald was long gone.

"It's gone...I let him take it without even putting up a fight for it," said Tails despondently Tails as he threw the nose cone to the floor.

"No Tails. It's my fault," said Angel, looking down at the ground. "I should've stayed behind to keep an eye on him."  
"Neither one of you are to blame," said Rouge. "We need to get back down to the cannon's power core before Eggman can fire the cannon again." Suddenly, the whole ARK began to shake, nearly throwing the three mobians to the ground.

"What on Mobius is happening?" asked Tails as the shaking subsided. Just then, all the monitors in the control room went dark. Almost immediately, all of them but the biggest one in the center of the console lit back up with a thirty minute timer on their screens.

The timers then began their countdown as the middle screen booted up what appeared to be an old recording of a man that looked like an older version of Eggman dressed in straight jacket flanked by guards. But before the recording could begin, a flash of light erupted in the middle of the room as Sonic appeared behind his friends.

"Sonic! You're alive!" shouted Tails happily as they all turned around to see the blue hedgehog alive and well. The fox ran over and embraced his best friend a in hug that nearly knocked Sonic to the floor. "I thought we had lost you!"

"Easy little buddy," said Sonic as he returned the hug.

"How did you escape the capsule?" asked Angel, her eyes slightly tearing up in joy to see Sonic back with them as Tails broke his hug.

"I figured out how to do Chaos Control," said Sonic, holding up the fake emerald.

"But how could you possible perform that ability?" asked Rouge, wide eyed in amazement. "I thought only Shadow could use Chaos Control."

"Not anymore, but that'll keep for now. What's up with the ARK shaking?" asked Sonic.

"We're not sure," said Angel. Suddenly, the recording began to play.

"You have begun my final vengeance upon Mobius and its people by placing the seven Chaos Emeralds into the Eclipse Cannon's power core. By doing so, you have activated my master program. The weapon I built to save this planet will now be the instrument of its destruction. By my calculations, the space colony ARK will strike the planet in exactly thirty minutes once my master program has been activated," said the man in the recording. Here, the man began to tear up as his voice waivered slightly.

"All of you took everything from me when you attacked the ARK. My granddaughter Maria...She died because of my research, as did all my friends," said the man sadly. But that sadness was quickly replaced by rage.

"I created Shadow to hopefully find a cure for my granddaughter's disease as well as make the world safe from those that would threaten it. I was only a couple of weeks away from discovering the cure when you attacked! I'm certain I was close! No one deserved to die for my research...Yet you killed nearly everyone aboard the ARK over the fear that Shadow caused, including Maria," said the man.

"Now, the world will pay the price for your arrogance. Shadow will ensure my vengeance is satisfied. I leave everything to him," said the man. Several seconds passed before a voice off camera spoke.

"Do you have anything else to say?" asked a man's voice.

"No..." said the man. The recording then started to repeat itself. Unbeknownst to everyone, the same recording was now playing live on every communications device on the planet.

"So _that's_ what that program Nicole stumbled across was for!?" cried Rouge. Everyone turned their gaze to the bat, each one's face asking the same question. Rouge fished Nicole out of her jumpsuit before flipping her open. Nicole instantly appeared in her lynx form.

"Apparently it was. Take me over to the control panel," said Nicole. Rouge ran over to the main control panel, setting Nicole's physical self down on it as her image ran alongside the bat. She then used her wireless connection to link up with the ARK. Several seconds ticked by as Nicole scanned the ARK's mainframe. Just as she had expected, she couldn't access any of the ARK's controls as they were now protected by a very powerful encryption.

"I'm sorry everyone," said Nicole as she lowered her head. "The ARK _is_ on a collision course with Mobius. And the controls are completely locked up by that program. It would take me hours to crack the encryption to free the controls."

"Just who is that nut job in the recording anyways?" asked Sonic as he looked back over at the monitor displaying the recording.

"He looks a lot like Eggman. Is he related to him at all?" asked Tails.

"He is," said a voice from the doorway. Everyone turned around to see Eggman now standing in the entrance to the control room. He then made his way over to the mobians. Noticing a certain blue hedgehog was with them, he only flashed a grin.

"I should've known you'd find a way to escape my trap you little pin cushion," said Eggman.

"As if I'd be done in by you, Egghead," said Sonic as he smiled himself. "But we can trade verbal jabs later. Who is that in the recording?"

"That would be my grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik. One of the greatest scientific minds the human race has ever known. It was his genius that gave birth to Shadow as well as the Eclipse Cannon," said Eggman.

"Sorry I'm late to the party. Got a little lost on my way here," said Knuckles as he walked into the room.

"Hey Knux. Did you happen to hear that recording?" asked Sonic.

"Kinda hard to miss it since its playing over all the communication devices on the colony," said Knuckles with a frown.

"This is all your fault Eggman! You should never have tried to use that cannon to dominate the world!" cried Tails as he pointed a finger in his direction.

"Shadow's the one to blame, fox boy," said Eggman angrily. "He's the one that brought me up here and told me what the cannon was capable of!"

"This isn't the time to be pointing fingers!" yelled Rouge, trying to stop the fighting. "We need to come up with a plan before all of us are killed along with the planet."

"You're right Rouge," said Eggman as he looked over in Rouge's direction. He then noticed Nicole standing next to the bat at the control panel. "Who the heck are you?"

"I'm Nicole. I think we have a pretty long history," said the lynx with a smirk.

"You! You're that damn AI that the princess is always carrying around that always got through my security in Robotropolis!" cried Eggman.

"The one and only," said Nicole. "But let's not dwell on the past for the moment. I have an idea on how we can break the control lockdown."

"What did you have in mind?" asked Angel.

"Even though I can't use any of the controls, I can still detect what's going on with the colony. Right now, there's a massive amount of energy that's in the colony's core. I surmise that this energy is what's powering the lockout, as it wasn't present before the lockout began."

"Of course! The Chaos Emeralds must've been transported to the ARK's core to power the lockout," said Eggman. "But even if we could reach the Chaos Emeralds, the energy that's already been released into the core has done its damage. We would need to remove that energy in order to unlock the colony's controls again."

"Which we can't do without the help of dozens of chao," said Sonic, remembering how they had helped end his battle with Chaos' perfect form nearly two months ago.

"Wait a second...There is still a way to nullify the energy I think," said Rouge. She then turned towards Knuckles. "You told me the Master Emerald has the power to control the Chaos Emeralds, right? Couldn't you use it to remove the energy that's been placed into the core?"

"I'm not sure. I know the Master Emerald can control the emeralds' power, but I don't know about nullifying it," said Knuckles.

"We have to try," said Tails.

"I agree. It's the only plan we have at the moment," said Eggman.

"I might not be able to control the ARK's trajectory, but I can still bypass the normal security. I'll open the way for the quickest route to the colony's core," said Nicole as she turned her attention back to the control board.

"Alright then. Where're the shards Knuckles?" asked Sonic.

"I put them back on the ship," said Knuckles.

"Every second counts right now. I'll be right back," said Sonic. The fake emerald that was still in his hand flashed as Sonic vanished. He then reappeared a couple of seconds later with the sack the shards were in.

"So that's how you managed to survive," said Eggman as Sonic handed the sack to Knuckles.

"It is, but it doesn't help us at the moment," said Sonic

"Why not?" asked Knuckles as he took the sack from Sonic.

"I quickly discovered a flaw with Chaos Control or at least a problem that I have performing it," said Sonic.

"And that is?" asked Knuckles.

"I have to have seen the location I want to go to in order to teleport there. If I try to go somewhere I haven't seen before, I can't make it work," said Sonic.

"Then we're hoofing it down there," said Knuckles.

"Are you sure you can get down there fast enough Sonic?" asked Tails.

"Of course I'm sure. I'm the fastest thing on this planet. We'll get down there in no time big guy," said Sonic.

"Then get going. Every second is vital!" said Eggman as he pointed at the timer which had now hit the twenty five minute mark.

"Let's go," said Sonic as he turned and ran out of the room, Knuckles hot on his heels.

"I have a bad feeling about this," said Rouge.

"So do I," said Tails. Angel frowned for a second before she started running out of the room as well.

"Where are you going?" asked Rouge. Angel stopped and turned her head back towards Rouge.

"I'm going to try and find Shadow. We need all the help we can get right now," said Angel.

"Honey, Shadow's the one that caused this to happen. I highly doubt you'll get him to do anything to help us out," said Rouge.

"I still have to try," said Angel as she turned her head back around and ran out of the room.

August 26, 2323 18:16

Shadow stared out at the planet below as it slowly but steadily grew bigger in the viewing window of Maria's living quarters. _Finally your death will be avenged Maria. How long I've waited for this moment to happen ever since they sealed me in that pod,_ thought Shadow. A knock against the side of the entrance to the room caused him to jump slightly as his train of thought was broken.

"I didn't mean to scare you again," said an all too familiar voice to the black hedgehog. His eyes narrowed, but otherwise he made no other outward sign he was annoyed that the female echidna was there. He could hear her footsteps as she crossed the room to stand beside him at the viewing window.

He glanced over at her to see she wasn't looking at him, but rather out of the window. He thought he'd see anger on her face or perhaps fear. But he was surprised to see that it contained no such look. Rather, she looked completely calm.

"Shouldn't you be with your friends?" asked Shadow as he returned his gaze to the planet below.

"They can take care of themselves. I wanted to find you," said Angel.

"What for?" asked Shadow.

"Like I said last time, I just want to talk," said Angel softly. Shadow's face reflected the surprise he now felt. Why should she want to "talk" with him? Especially after his plan to kill off the planet was now revealed and in full swing.

"I have nothing I want to say to you," said Shadow.

"Just answer me one question then," said Angel as she turned her head to face him. "Why did you do this? Why sentence the planet and its people to death?"

"You wouldn't understand," said Shadow. "I had to do this. I swore Maria's death would be avenged when I saw her be killed right in front of me." Now it was Angel's turn to have her face reflect her surprise.

"I didn't know you saw her die," said Angel. Shadow lowered his head slightly.

"She didn't deserve to be killed in cold blood by those monstrous people..." said Shadow softly. "As the professor's recording said, they attacked the ARK because they feared me. But Maria...She wasn't a threat to anyone. They had no right to do what they did."

"You're absolutely right," said Angel as her gaze shifted back to the planet. "No one deserves such a fate. But was it truly worth killing the whole planet over?"

"You don't understand echidna. I lost my life that night. The one thing I held dearest to me was taken in an instant. It left me a hollow shell for several days till the professor told me how I could exact revenge by using the ARK," said Shadow.

"I know exactly how you could feel like that Shadow..." said Angel as she looked down slightly.

"You couldn't possibly understand how I felt then or now," said Shadow. Without warning, Shadow felt as if a missile had just collided with his face as he was sent flying into the wall. As he slumped down to the ground, he wearily looked up to see Angel standing in her spot facing him. Her body was twisted in a position that clearly showed that she had just sucker punched him as hard as she could. She was now filled with a rage the likes of which Shadow didn't know the echidna was capable of.

"Don't you _ever_ tell me I wouldn't understand how it feels to lose your whole life in a single moment!" she cried angrily as she returned to a standing position. "I saw both of my parents be murdered right in front of me by a robotic killing machine! Then I was knocked out by that same machine!"

"When I awoke the next morning, my village was burned to the ground! All the others of my race had been killed! By a twist of fate, my chao Comet and I survived...But I had lost everything..." she said softly at the end of her rant. At this, her anger ebbed as her emotions turned to a much softer tone. Seeing that her anger had subsided, Shadow got back to his feet and started walking in her direction again. Arriving at the viewing window again, he returned his gaze back out to the planet below.

"After that night, I was filled with the desire for revenge. I wanted nothing more than to find the thing that had destroyed my life and kill it," said Angel. "I was consumed by that urge. So much so that I blindly accepted an offer to be trained to combat that foe by the very person that had created the same machine that had destroyed my life." At this, Shadow cocked an eyebrow as his curiosity was now aroused. _This must have been what the bat and Sonic were talking about when they were referring to her past,_ thought Shadow.

"What was the offer that you accepted?" asked Shadow, now genuinely interested in the echidna's tale.

"That he would train me into a warrior. And in exchange, I would have to promise to uphold any request that he asked of me the next time our paths crossed after my training was complete," said Angel. "I trained under him for four years. Then I took up the mantle of Guardian after learning that Knuckles had died. I resided in solitude on Floating Island for five more years until Sonic arrived at the island."

"I reluctantly joined Sonic and his friends in their final bid to free the Mobius of my timeline. At the time, I brushed Sonic and his friends off. It wasn't until Sonic saved my life from the very machine that had destroyed my village that I started to put aside my aggression towards them. As I tended to Sonic's wounds, I told him of the very past that I just told you," said Angel.

"I see...Did you ever run into the person you made the promise to?" asked Shadow.

"As it turned out, that very same person was the same tyrant we were trying to overthrow. A robotic raptor by the name of Leviathan. But when he confronted me, my honor prevented me from saying no when he requested that I become his ally and fight Sonic," said Angel.

"And yet the blue hedgehog is here and so are you, so obviously you broke that promise," said Shadow. Angel just shook her head.

"No...I didn't break it. Rather, Leviathan screwed up when giving me an order. He told me to keep the promise that I had made. But he didn't specify which one he had meant. By that point in time, I had also made a promise to Sonic that I'd stand by his side till our goal of overthrowing the tyrant was finished. And Leviathan had made me promise to always follow an order till I had completed the task," said Angel. Shadow smiled slightly at hearing that.

"That's incredibly lucky for you to figure a way around that promise without actually breaking it," said Shadow.

"A day doesn't go by where that promise doesn't haunt me at least a little bit. I've had nightmares plague me for days or even weeks at a time. It's always the same one each time," said Angel as she shuddered slightly.

"I was wrong about you Angel," said Shadow. "You do understand a lot about what I've dealt with all these years while I slept in that cryo pod."

"Shadow...you need to do what I did and put the past behind you," said Angel. "This path you're taking will only lead to your death and that of the planet."

"I don't care. Maria's death will be avenged just as the professor and I have planned," said Shadow.

"Maria really meant the world to you, didn't she?" asked Angel.

"She was everything to me," said Shadow.

"Then tell me this Shadow. You knew Maria better than anyone else aboard the ARK, right?" asked Angel. She saw him give no reaction, but she knew she had to keep pushing. "Was she a nice person?"

"She was the kindest, most gentle person I've known," said Shadow.

"I have just one more question then," said Angel.

"And that would be what?" asked Shadow, glancing over at Angel.

"Would she want to see you like this? Consumed by hatred and anger to the point that you'd be willing to kill everyone on the planet?" asked Angel. At this, Shadow finally showed a hint of emotion as he stiffened slightly.

"I'm betting she would've loved to have seen the world on the surface. And she would've wanted you to be with her," said Angel. The echidna watched as Shadow's hands curled into fists and his eyes closed tight.

"That's exactly what she wanted..." whispered Shadow.

"Then would she have been happy to know you were going to destroy the world she dreamed of seeing? To kill the people I'm sure she would've wanted you to be friends with?" asked Angel. She paused for a few seconds before speaking again, letting her words sink in.

"Shadow...Help us protect this world and its people by helping us stop the ARK," said Angel. Shadow continued to keep his eyes shut as Angel's last few sentences rang in his mind. It all sounded so familiar to him. _Would Maria really have wanted all this?_ though Shadow as he thought back to his memory of Maria's death. But this time, something he hadn't remembered finally surfaced.

* * *

Shadow banged on the window of the escape pod as he watched Maria slump to the floor. Her body was failing her fast.

"Maria!" cried Shadow as he tried desperately to reach her.

"Shadow..." said Maria as the mike that was wired to the escape pod let her voice be heard by Shadow as he watched. "Promise me something..."

"Anything!" said Shadow.

"Promise me...you won't blame others...for this. The people...on the surface. Be their friend Shadow. Protect them...and the planet..." said Maria weakly.

"I will Maria...I promise you I'll protect this planet and its people with my life," said Shadow.

"Thank you...Sayonara...Shadow..." said Maria. Then the pod launched towards the planet.

* * *

Shadow's eyes snapped open as he gave an audible gasp, leaning against the window as he gasped for air.

"Are you alright?" asked Angel as she helped steady him. _She wanted me to protect this planet and its people...How did I forget the promise I made to her?_ thought Shadow.

"I'm alright," said Shadow as he gathered himself.

"What happened?" asked Angel. She suddenly drew back slightly as she saw tears starting to form in Shadow's eyes.

"You're right Angel. Maria didn't want this..." said Shadow softly as he turned towards the entrance to the room. "But there's still time to make this right."

"So you'll help us?" asked Angel.

"Yes. Just like you, I'm going to keep my promise to Maria to protect this world and its people to my dying breath," said Shadow. He then closed his eyes and gathered the chaos energy in the air around him. Opening his eyes, a flash of light erupted around him.

"Chaos Control!" he cried. The light engulfed Shadow and just as quickly disappeared, leaving nothing behind in its wake.

"Thank you Shadow. And good luck," said Angel with a smile on her face. A few tears were in her own eyes as she realized that Shadow's good side had finally broken through, just as she had known it would.

* * *

Sonic stood next to a large grate in the floor of the room he and Knuckles were now in. Water flowed from a giant pipe overhead thru the grate into a giant pipe just underneath it. Knuckles set the shards onto the floor next to the grate, then began to remove it.

"Nicole, you aren't serious, are you?" asked Sonic as he looked up at the ceiling.

"I know you hate the idea Sonic. But its the fastest way to the core and we've only got eleven minutes left. Every second counts," said Nicole's voice over the ARK's communications grid. Thankfully, the AI had been able to disable the recording so that the communications grid was free for her to use to talk to them.

"I know, but...I-I can't do this," said Sonic. Knuckles finally got the grate free, tossing it to the side. He picked up the sack of shards and walked over to Sonic before gripping him by the arm.

"What are you doing Knuckles!?" cried Sonic.

"We don't have time for you to be a baby about this," said Knuckles as he threw Sonic into pipe before jumping in after him. The two of them were tossed around like rag dolls for nearly twenty seconds before the pipe finally ended. The pair fell into a ring of shallow water the surrounded a large lizard-like creature resting on an even bigger platform. Strapped to its back was a machine of some kind.

"I swear to the high heavens of Mobius that you're _dead_ when this is done for doing that Knuckles!?" cried Sonic as he stood back up. Knuckles followed suit, completely ignoring the hedgehog's threat. However, Sonic's yelling did more than just tell off the crimson echidna. It also drew the attention of the creature resting on the platform as it gave a loud growl. The creature slowly rose onto its four legs, turning towards the source of the noise.

"What in the heck is that thing!?" cried Knuckles as he saw the thing give a few sniffs of the air. It then let out a deafening roar, but otherwise remained in its spot.

"Never mind that thing, I see the Chaos Emeralds!" said Sonic, pointing to a structure that was on the far side of the platform. Seven pillars stood around a small shrine of sorts. Each pillar held on its top one of the seven Chaos Emeralds.

"Call me crazy, but doesn't that look like the Master Emerald shrine we both saw in Tikal's visions?" asked Knuckles, instantly recognizing the shape of the structure.

"It sure does. Maybe they thought the Chaos Emeralds could be controlled easier if they were in a structure similar to the real shrine," suggested Sonic as a flash of light behind them went unnoticed.

"Well, either way we're gonna have to get past big and ugly, whatever it is," said Knuckles.

"It's called the Biolizard. It was my predecessor," said a voice from behind the pair. Both of them whipped around to see Shadow standing behind them.  
"Shadow! What are you doing here?" asked Sonic.

"I came to help," said Shadow as he started walking towards them.

"I think you've helped enough," said Knuckles with disgust.

"Think of me what you will, but I'm really here to help. You're friend Angel helped me see how wrong I was to go down the path I took," said Shadow.

"What do you think Sonic?" asked Knuckles, looking over at Sonic. "Think we can trust him?"

"It's cool Knux. Shadow's telling the truth," said Sonic.

"How can you be sure?" asked Knuckles, not sure he believed Sonic.

"Trust me. He wouldn't help us on a whim. I can tell Angel got thru to him," said Sonic.

"If you say so," said Knuckles. "So how are we gonna get past this guy?" Shadow suddenly started walking towards the creature.

"I'll handle the Biolizard. You two focus on stopping the Chaos Emeralds," said Shadow.

"Are you sure you can handle that thing by yourself?" asked Sonic.

"You forget. He may be the prototype, but I'm the true ultimate life form," said Shadow.

"Alright. We'll follow your lead Shadow," said Sonic as he and Knuckles got set to run. The Biolizard took notice that one of the three beings in the room with it was making its way towards it finally. Growling softly, the creature waited till the person it could sense was within range to strike. Suddenly, the beast's head lunged at Shadow, jaws open wide to chomp down the instant it reached the black hedgehog.

But Shadow was quicker, leaping to the left of its jaws. He then landed and shot forward before curling into a spindash. Shadow slammed hard into the creature's side. But he merely bounced off, leaving no visible mark on the creature as it roared angrily. It then started to turn towards Shadow who started skating away from the creature's maw as it chased after him.

"That's our cue Knuckles," said Sonic as he took off towards the shrine, Knuckles right behind him. Shadow was easily keeping ahead of the Biolizard as it chased him in a circle around the edge of the platform. Suddenly, it stopped chasing him as it started panting heavily.

"Done with the chase already?" asked Shadow as he whipped around and spindashed at the creature's head. But once again he bounced off its hide as he struck it in the forehead. Shadow landed back on the edge of the platform, gritting his teeth in frustration. Now that the creature had a moment to catch its breath, it turned towards Shadow once again.

"You can chase me all day, but you won't catch me," said Shadow as he prepared to run away again. As the creature brought its head within twenty yards of Shadow, it stopped moving and just opened its mouth wide. _What in the world is it doing?_ thought Shadow. Suddenly, a blast of black energy shot from its mouth right at Shadow.

"What in the hell!?" cried Shadow, barely missing getting hit by the blast as he teleported to the far side of the platform. Sonic looked down at the two combatants as Knuckles dumped the Master Emerald shards onto the top of the shrine. Holding his hands held out just in front of the pile, Knuckles closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Suddenly, the emerald shards began to rise up and combine themselves as the Master Emerald began to repair itself.

"Can't you go any faster Knux?" asked Sonic, turning his eyes from the Master Emerald back to the fight just incase he needed to jump in.

"Trust me Sonic, I'm going as fast as I can," said Knuckles. Back down on the platform, Shadow and the Biolizard continued to fight. But neither of them seemed to be able to inflict any damage to the other. The Biolizard's skin was too tough for Shadow's spindashes to hurt it and the Biolizard was too slow to even hit Shadow.

"Alright, ugly. Let's see if you can shrug off this attack," said Shadow to himself as he stopped running away from the Biolizard as it had stopped to catch its breath again. Shadow balled up his fists over his chest and started to collect chaos energy in them. A couple of seconds later he flung both hands out as he launched a double Chaos Spear at the side of the Biolizard. Both balls of energy slammed into the Biolizard's side. But just as it was with his spindashes, the attack did little more than leave a burn mark on its side.

"I don't like this Knuckles. Shadow's not hurting that thing at all," said Sonic.

"He doesn't have to beat it, just keep it from coming after us for about another twenty seconds," said Knuckles as he continued to rebuild the Master Emerald. It was nearly three fourths of the way repaired, with only about a dozen shards left to go.

Back at the platform, Shadow waited as the Biolizard finally caught its breath. But this time, the Biolizard opted for a new strategy. It raised its head high, letting out a loud roar. Shadow let out a surprised cry as he was lifted high off the ground, several chunks of the platform breaking loose as well to hover near him.

"How is he doing this!?" cried Shadow. Suddenly, the chunks of the platform began to fly right at Shadow. Teleporting out of the way of the first one, he reappeared only to get struck in the side by another piece of the platform. Letting out a groan of pain, Shadow gritted his teeth and teleported once more to the far side of the platform where none of the pieces were at.

"Alright! I've had enough of this fight!" shouted Shadow as he stumbled about in the air above the Biolizard. Gathering energy into his hands once again, he then launched another double Chaos Spear. But unlike all his other attacks which had been aimed at the Biolizard itself, this time he aimed it at the machine on its back.

Both of the energy blasts collided with the machine, causing it to explode in a shower of shrapnel. The Biolizard let out roar louder than any it had before and then collapsed to the floor. The gravity reversal that the Biolizard had induced vanished as the creature collapsed, Shadow dropping to the floor gracefully.

"Nice job Shadow!" cried Sonic as he saw the creature fall.

"I should've just aimed for its life support system from the start," said Shadow to himself. He realized he'd let his pride get in the way of attacking the machine first instead of the creature. He then began running towards the shrine.

"And finished," said Knuckles as he reopened his eyes, the Master Emerald now fully restored before him and Sonic. He then placed both hands on its glassy surface.

"Master Emerald, please hear my plea. Please stop the Chaos Emeralds from powering the ARK any longer!" said Knuckles. The Master Emerald's glow then started to intensify before flashing brightly a few seconds later. Above them on the pillars, the seven Chaos Emeralds' glow suddenly dulled as each one fell off their pillar to land on the ground below.

"I assume you two were successful?" asked Shadow as he arrived at the top of the shrine stairs.

"I think so," said Sonic, looking at the dull emeralds resting on the ground. Suddenly, a loud roar erupted from the Biolizard as it shakily rose back to its feet. It's breathing was extremely labored and it looked like giant blisters were starting to form on its body. Giving another roar, a giant flash of light erupted from the creature before it vanished into thin air.

"Did that thing just do what I think it did?" asked Sonic, not sure if he believed what he had just seen.

"Yes. That Biolizard just used Chaos Control somehow. But where did it go?" asked Shadow.

"Never mind that. Nicole! The Chaos Emeralds have been stopped! Get the ARK out of its collision course!" cried Sonic up at the ceiling, hoping the AI was listening.

"I know, but something's wrong," said Nicole's voice over the communication's grid.

"What do you mean 'something's wrong'?" asked Knuckles.

"I'm not sure. The controls were unlocked for a few seconds, but before I could recalibrate the ARK's trajectory, they locked back up again. Wait a second...What in the heck is that thing?" asked Nicole.

"What is what thing?" asked Sonic.

"Some kind of creature's now attached to the tip of the Eclipse Cannon's barrel. It almost looks like...is that the Biolizard!?" asked Nicole.

"That damn creature's trying to keep the ARK on its collision course!" said Shadow.

"Guys, until that thing is killed, I won't be able to get the ARK out of its current trajectory," said Nicole.

"Then its over," said Shadow as he looked at the ground. "We can't fight the Biolizard all the way up there. We'd need the ability to fly to do so."

"Fly you say? Well then, if that's all we need to do, we're golden," said Sonic. He then looked over at Knuckles. "Hey Knux. Can the emeralds power two people at the same time?"

"They can. But you'd both be less powerful than you'd normally be if just one of you was using them all," said Knuckles.

"I think we'll manage just fine," said Sonic. He then zipped around the shrine, collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds before returning to the top of the shrine. He then handed one of them to Shadow, then took one of them for himself before setting the others on the ground. By this point, they're glow had returned now that the Master Emerald had let go of its brief hold over their power.

"What good are the Chaos Emeralds to us now?" asked Shadow, not sure he was following Sonic and Knuckles conversation. Sonic merely smiled.

"Trust me, they're gonna make all the difference. When I say three, you and I will strike each other's Chaos Emerald together. It won't be as powerful as if we were to meld them into our bodies, but we're strapped for time," said Sonic.

"What in the world are you talking about?" asked Shadow, now completely confused.

"You'll see," said Sonic. He then held up his emerald towards Shadow, who followed suit. "One...two...three!" Both of them thrust their hands forward, the emeralds colliding as a flash of light erupted from all seven emeralds. As the light died down, the seven emeralds were orbiting the two hedgehogs as they hovered about a foot off the ground. Sonic had four orbiting him while three were doing the same to Shadow. Both of their fur color had changed as well. Sonic's blue was now a hot yellow while Shadow's black was more of a whitish golden hue.

"What in the world happened to us? This power is amazing!" said Shadow, never having felt such power before in his life.

"No time to explain. Let's just say these are our super forms and they'll help us put that ugly lizard down quick," said Sonic. He then flew over to Knuckles, placing a hand on both him and the Master Emerald. "I'll take Knuckles back to the others and meet you at the tip of the Eclipse Cannon."

"Alright. Meet you there," said Shadow. Both of them then activated Chaos Control as the three mobians and the Master Emerald vanished in a flash of light.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

August 26, 2323 18:24

Everyone inside of the main control room cried out in surprise as Super Sonic, Knuckles, and the Master Emerald appeared in a flash of light they weren't expecting.

"How long do we have left Nicole?" asked Sonic as he looked over at the lynx.

"If we don't regain control of the ARK in the next four minutes, I won't be able to pull us out in time," said Nicole.

"Four minutes. Not as much time as I'd like," said Sonic.

"We're all behind you two," said Rouge, nodding in his direction.

"That's right. You've been in tougher fights with me before and come out on top. I know you'll crush that lizard," said Eggman.

"We'll do our best," said Sonic. He then activated Chaos Control, vanishing from the control room and reappearing at the top of the Eclipse Cannon's barrel. Shadow cocked a smirk in his direction as they hovered nearly two hundred yards away from the Biolizard. Already the air around them was beginning to heat up while the planet above their heads began to give off a slight reddish glow. Thankfully the shield that kept the atmosphere contained within the ARK's surface area was designed to hold up against this kind of event.

"You ready to do this Sonic?" asked Shadow.

"As I'll ever be. What's the game plan?" asked Sonic. The Biolizard roared in their direction from where it was now fused with the cannon itself.

"Without its life support system, its cells are deteriorating rapidly. Such was the flaw that occurred when the professor first created him," said Shadow.

"And how does that help us now?" asked Sonic.

"Look closely. Its skin has developed several large blisters where its cells are failing it the fastest. If we attack those spots, I have no doubt that we'll be able to significantly damage him," said Shadow.

"All right. You take the far side and I'll take this side. We'll split his attention so he hopefully won't be effective at attacking us," said Sonic.

"Alright. Once I'm in position you go," said Shadow.

"Will do," said Sonic. Shadow then started to fly around to the far side of the Biolizard, the creature tracking him as he did so. But the Biolizard wasn't content in just watching him. Shadow noticed it start to open its mouth wide and expected it to attack him with the same black ball of energy it had in the core. But he was thrown off guard as instead of a ball of energy, the beast launched a much stronger beam of bluish pink energy instead. And unlike the ball which had been relatively slow, the beam was much quicker to the point Shadow didn't have time to react.

"Shadow!" cried Sonic as he saw the beam strike the super powered hedgehog. The blast threw Shadow back nearly twenty yards before he managed to get himself back under control.

"Are you alright?" hollered Sonic.

"I'm okay. That blast knocked me back a ways, but it didn't hurt that much. Just a bit of singed fur," answered Shadow. Sonic breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently the Biolizard lacked the power to truly hurt them in their super forms. But he also realized that beam would be nearly impossible to dodge if it was aimed right at them. And with it being strong enough to knock them away, it could really put a strain on them finishing the creature off fast.

"Alright, let's try this again," said Sonic.

"I'll follow your lead," said Shadow. Sonic then flew from his spot, rapidly closing the gap between him and the creature. Once again, the Biolizard turned its head to face Sonic and opened its mouth wide.

"Not this time ya big creep," said Sonic to himself. He quickly dashed downwards just in time to miss the beam attack from the Biolizard. Realigning himself with one of the blisters, Sonic shot straight at it and curled into a spindash. He was reward as he slammed into the blister, causing the giant pustule to pop open. He then flew away as a spray of blood escaped from the open wound. The Biolizard let out an extremely loud roar of pain in response.

"My turn!" cried Shadow as he started his own attack run at the beast. This time, the Biolizard continued to fire its beam attack at Shadow. It twisted its neck down to follow Shadow as he tried to dodge the beam. The beam continued to chase after Shadow, not allowing him a chance to make a proper approach.

"Alright. Let's see you follow this ugly," said Shadow as he activated Chaos Control, vanishing just before the beam caught him. He reappeared far above the Biolizard's line of sight, then shot straight down at the creature. The Biolizard had let up on its attack, having lost track of Shadow. It then cried out in pain as Shadow successfully broke another of its blisters before flying away to a safe distance.

"Nice move Shadow! Let's see if I can have just as much of a follow thru," said Sonic. He then blasted from the safety of his spot towards the Biolizard. But as Sonic closed the gap with the beast this time, it opted a new strategy. All of the blood around the Biolizard that it had lost suddenly began to pool into dozens of orbs. Each one quickly solidified into rock hard balls that then equally spread out around the creature.

"What in the world is it doing?" asked Shadow to himself as he watched from the safety of his spot. Shadow got his answer as the orbs began to fly right at Sonic one after another. Sonic began to try to dodge them, but there was so many and they were coming at a fast enough pace he couldn't dodge them all. Several of them collided with him, knocking him around like a rag doll each time one of them struck him. Quickly activating Chaos Control, Sonic retreated to a safe distance. The blood orbs returned to their positions around the Biolizard.

"Clever little prototype," said Shadow as he watched the scene unfold before him. "Sonic! Let's attack at the same time!"

"Just what I was thinking! I doubt he can track both of us at once!" answered Sonic. Both hedgehogs shot from their spot, each one rapidly closing the distance as the blood orbs began to fly at them from either direction. But this time the orbs' numbers were half of what they had been when Sonic had tried since they were divided between the two of them.

This allowed both hedgehogs to easily dodge them this time around. Both Sonic and Shadow connected with separate blisters, each one erupting open as the Biolizard let out its loudest roar of pain yet. They continued this pattern for a couple of minutes, each attack opening more blisters on the Biolizard's body. The creature was panting heavily now, more so that it had been before it had left the core.

"I think we're wearing it down," said Shadow.

"Yeah. The problem is this is taking us longer than I thought it would," said Sonic. Suddenly, the ARK's communications grid came on.

"Guys! You have to kill that thing now! We're only got thirty seconds left before I won't be able to avert the disaster!" cried Nicole's voice over the grid.

"Alright Shadow. We're going for broke. On three, we attack its head from both sides. We'll crush its skull in so badly it won't have a chance to survive," said Sonic, getting into a set position.

"Ready when you are," said Shadow as he got set as well.

"One...two...three!" cried Sonic as both of them shot at the Biolizard at the same time. Once again, the blood orbs began to rain down on the two hedgehogs as they expertly dodged them. But at the last second, the Biolizard aimed its head mouth open right in Sonic's direction.

Sonic was caught off guard as a beam of energy collided into him, stopping the momentum he had build up for his part of the attack as he was knocked away. A second later, Shadow slammed into the side of the Biolizard's head, jarring it hard to the side. But the attack didn't damage it that much since all his inertia was absorbed by its head having somewhere to move. Cursing, Shadow flew back to his start point.

"Once more Sonic! We have to hurry!" cried Shadow.

"I know! Full speed this time! Don't give him an opening!" hollered Sonic as he shook off the blast and realigned himself with the beast's head again.

"Go!" cried Shadow as he shot from his spot, Sonic following after him. Both hedgehogs instantly broke the sound barrier as they collided with the Biolizard's head from both sides perfectly this time. The beast didn't let out any roar this time as a sickening crunch sound emitted from its head the instant Sonic and Shadow collided with it. The creature fell limp as its lifeless body hung off its fused place with the cannon.

"It's dead! Stop the ARK Nicole!" hollered Sonic.

"It's too late I'm afraid..." said Nicole's voice sadly over the communications grid. "The ARK has entered too far into the atmosphere to pull it out of its trajectory now. It'll strike the planet in the next two minutes. If only you had killed the Biolizard a few seconds earlier..."

"No...It can't end like this..." said Shadow, curling his hands into fists.

"There's still a chance. We still have the Chaos Emeralds' power. We'll use Chaos Control to teleport the colony back into a safe orbit," said Sonic. Shadow stared back at Sonic with a disbelieving look.

"You can't be serious? You honestly think we can teleport something as big as the ARK?" asked Shadow.

"We have to try. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain," said Sonic, looking over at Shadow. A couple of seconds passed before a grin started to form on Shadow's muzzle.

"Alright Sonic. We'll give it a try. Let's just hope this works," said Shadow. They both flew over to the side of the Eclipse Cannon's barrel, each one placing their hands on the frame. Both of them closed their eyes in concentration, trying to summon as much of the Chaos Emeralds' power into their hands as possible. After several seconds ticked by, they both opened their eyes and looked at each other.

"If this doesn't work, I just wanted to say it was a pleasure working with you Shadow," said Sonic with a smile. Shadow returned the smile.

"The pleasure was all mine Sonic. You truly have the makings of rivaling my status as the ultimate life form," said Shadow, placing a hand on Sonic's shoulder.

"I'll take that as a compliment," said Sonic with a chuckle. "Ready when you are."

"On three. One...Two...Three!" cried Shadow.

"Chaos Control!" they both cried as chaos energy exploded from their hands, rapidly spreading down the Eclipse Cannon's barrel and across the ARK's surface. In just a few seconds, the entire ARK was aglow with energy before it vanished in a flash of light. Almost as quickly as it had vanished, the ARK reappeared in the exact same spot it had been in before the doomsday program had become active.

"Oh man...What a head rush," said Sonic as he slowly got into a seated position, holding a hand up to his aching head. He was lying on the surface of the ARK at the foot of the Eclipse Cannon's barrel in the exact spot he had his battle with Shadow. His fur had returned to its cool blue, the Chaos Emeralds having unbonded with him after the massive Chaos Control. Looking up into the sky, Sonic spotted seven different colored lights slowly disappearing into the background of the planet above.

"Guess the Chaos Emeralds are scattered again," said Sonic. "But in any case, we did it Shadow." Sonic then returned his attention to back to the immediate area. But as he looked around, he realized that the black hedgehog wasn't with him. He then spotted one of Shadow's wrist bracelets lying on the ground next to him, as well as the indigo Chaos Emerald. When he saw the emerald resting on the ground, fear instantly gripped him. Quickly looking back up at the sky, he saw that he hadn't counted wrong. Seven lights were indeed falling towards the planet. It was then that Sonic realized what one of those lights was.

"No...Shadow!" cried Sonic as he leapt to his feet and continued to stare up at the planet. One by one, the lights began to flicker out till they were all gone.

August 26, 2323 18:38

Everyone in the main control room let out a groan, each of them lying on the floor aside from Nicole who was watching them from her spot at the control panel.

"What happened?" asked Tails as he sat up, putting a hand to his hurting head.

"I have no idea," said Rouge as she sat up as well, Knuckles and Eggman following suit.

"You guys have been out cold for almost ten minutes," said Nicole.

"How did we get knocked out?" asked Eggman.

"There was a giant flash of light that erupted outside. Then the next thing the control board told me was that the ARK was back into its original orbit around the planet," said Nicole.

"Could Sonic and Shadow have used Chaos Control to move the ARK back into orbit?" asked Knuckles.

"That's exactly what happened Knux," said Sonic's voice from the doorway. Everyone looked over at him with a look of joy on their faces. However, Sonic's own face reflected a much more depressed mood. The sound of running footsteps echoing down the hallway drew Sonic's attention.

A couple of seconds later, Angel rounded the corner of the far hallway and continued towards him. But as she arrived next to him, she took notice of the solemn look on his face. Glancing into the control room, she noticed one among them was missing. Fear instantly gripped her, unable to control herself from asking a question she didn't want to know the answer to.

"Sonic...Where's Shadow?" asked Angel. Sonic sighed and shook his head, reaching his hand out towards her. Opening his palm, he revealed Shadow's bracelet to her.

"I'm sorry Angel..." said Sonic with grief in his voice. Tears started to form in the echidna's eyes as she shook her own head slowly. She carefully took the trinket from Sonic's hand, clutching it close to her chest as she started to cry.

"What happened?" asked Tails. Sonic looked over at the young fox, then slowly walked into the room.

"He's gone...I saw him falling through the atmosphere after the emeralds unbonded with us," said Sonic.

"No...Not Shadow..." said Rouge softly.

"I think he knew we couldn't teleport the colony and ourselves at the same time," said Sonic. "Just before we activated Chaos Control, he placed his hand on my shoulder. I believe he did that so he could catch me in his Chaos Control and teleport me to the safety of the ARK's surface."

"I'm so sorry Shadow..." said Angel to herself as she continued to cry. "If I hadn't gotten you to help us, you'd still be alive."

"Don't talk like that," said Rouge as she walked over and took Angel in her arms, trying to comfort her.

"But he helped us because of me!" she wailed.

"Angel...If Shadow hadn't helped us, we wouldn't have survived. Mobius wouldn't have survived. He gave everything, his own life, to protect us all. To protect you," said Sonic.

"I know...It's just...He was exactly like me..." said Angel as she continued to cry.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Sonic.

"He was willing to go to any lengths to keep his promise. He was willing to die to keep it. Exactly like I was willing to keep my promise to Leviathan even though I thought it had cost me everything. I made him remember that promise. If I hadn't talked to him, he wouldn't have remembered and he'd still be here with us," said Angel.

"Honey, you can't blame yourself," said Rouge.

"Sounds to me like she's exactly the one to blame," said Eggman.

"Hey! Shut up right now or I'll personally knock you out again!" shouted Knuckles. Eggman simply shrugged and walked over to the viewing window.

"He's right...He's right...It's my fault..." said Angel to herself. Suddenly her head jerked to the side as Sonic slapped her hard.

"Stop it Angel!" said Sonic sternly. Angel held a hand up to her throbbing face with a look of stunned silence. "No one's to blame for what happened. Least of all you."

"But he-" she started before Sonic raised a hand in front of her face, silencing her.

"Stop attacking yourself. Would Shadow want to see you like this?" asked Sonic.

"Sonic's right hun," said Rouge as she continued to stand behind Angel, her hands resting on the echidna's shoulders. "You got to know Shadow better than any of us. And I saw your effect on him. His good side shined the brightest when he was around you. He wouldn't want to see you caught up in self pity like this."

"You're right...Shadow wouldn't want to see me like this," said Angel softly.

"Good. Mourn his passing, but don't blame yourself for it," said Rouge.

"I won't disgrace his memory. Instead, I'll honor it as best I can," said Angel, finally stopping her crying.

"Good," said Rouge, letting her hands drop off Angel's shoulders. She then turned towards Eggman and started walking in his direction. "I have just one last loose end to tie up."

"What's that?" asked Knuckles as he watched Rogue walked up right behind Eggman.

"Dr. Ivo Eggman, you are hereby under arrest for high treason and terroristic acts against the United Nation of Mobius," said Rouge. Eggman turned back around, a look of astonishment on his face.

"Oh really? And on who's authority are you performing this arrest?" asked Eggman, not really believing the bat's statement.

"The authority of the President of the United Nation of Mobius," said Rouge. She then produced a pair of handcuffs from her jumpsuit.

"And if I refuse to be your prisoner?" asked Eggman with a sneer.

"You don't have a choice Egghead," said Sonic as he started walking in his direction. Angel, Tails, and Knuckles also started moving towards him.

"You've had this coming for a long time Eggman," said Tails.

"You sure have. It's time you take your punishment like a man," said Knuckles as he cracked his knuckles.

"I barely know you, but I've seen enough to agree one hundred percent with my friends," said Angel. Eggman grew nervous as the quartet of mobians surrounded him.

"Now now...Let's not do anything hasty," said Eggman, waving his hands in front of him.

"Hold'em out Eggy," said Rouge sternly. Eggman hesitated, then gave an angry cry before reluctantly extending his hands towards the bat. She smiled as she cuffed the human.

"I hope you guys don't mind me catching a ride back to Mobius with you," said Rouge.

"Glad to have you along for the ride," said Sonic.

"I'll take the prisoner to the shuttle you came in and secure him," said Rouge.

"Knuckles and I will escort you there," said Tails as he hopped back into the Cyclone. Knuckles then picked up the Master Emerald, struggling a little, but still keeping a good grip on it. Rouge then started walking a completely dejected Eggman out of the room as Tails and Knuckles followed after her. Sonic watched them leave. He saw Angle start walking over to the viewing window. He watched her walk up to the window and stare down at the planet below, conflicting thoughts going through her mind at the moment.

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Sonic as he walked up beside her.

"To be honest, I'm not sure I will be for a while," said Angel.

"You know he'd be happy right now, knowing that he saved the life of the first real friend he had made in the last fifty years," said Sonic with a smile.

"He was special, Sonic. Really special. Not just because he was the ultimate life form. I saw his true self for a brief moment before he left to join you. In that moment, I saw him become the hero that Professor Gerald said he was supposed to have been," said Angel.

"I agree. Shadow was a hero. A much greater hero than I could probably ever be. He gave everything to save our world. I doubt I'll ever live up to that," said Sonic.

"Don't sell yourself short Sonic," said Angel, looking over at him. "You'll always be the hero who saved me from Leviathans' clutches. In my book, that makes you on par with Shadow." Sonic smiled at hearing that.

"Thanks Ange," said Sonic. He then sighed before placing a hand on her shoulder. "We should get going. Otherwise Knuckles might take off without us because he'll want to get the Master Emerald back to Floating Island as soon as possible." Angel smiled, then gave a small laugh.

"Yeah. I can see him doing that," she said. "I just have one favor to ask of you before we leave."

"What's that?" asked Sonic.

"Let me stay in Knothole for a little while when we get back. Shadow's death is gonna take me a little bit to get over. I don't feel like continuing the search for my purpose while I'm mourning him. And it will help me to be around my friends for a while," said Angel.

"Of course. We'll find you a spot to set up in Knothole for a while, don't you worry about it," said Sonic.

"Thank you," said Angel. Both of them then turned and started walking out of the room. As Sonic walked out and headed down the hallway, Angel paused at the entrance and looked back out the viewing window one last time. A flood of emotions filled her at the moment, but a single phrase came to her mind that she felt was necessary to say.

"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog," whispered Angel, closing her eyes for a few seconds before she then turned and started after Sonic.

* * *

Back at the shuttle, Rouge finished securing Eggman in the cargo hold as Tails did the same to the Cyclone. Suddenly, Nicole's image appeared in front of Tails as she projected herself from her resting place on top of the Cyclone's frame.

"Tails. Before we leave, I think there's something that's still left in the ARK that might interest you," said Nicole. Tails looked back up at her, curiosity etched onto his face.

"What would that be?" asked Tails.

"I'm not quite sure. There was a side project that Professor Gerald was working on briefly, but abandoned shortly after starting work on Shadow," said Nicole.

"What kind of project?" asked Tails.

"Something he called 'Project Gizoid', whatever that is. From the files I saw, it appears to be some kind of disabled combat robot that's thousands of years old. But that's about all I was able to discover," said Nicole.

"That sounds interesting to say the least. Maybe I could fix it up and have it help us out in the future," said Tails.

"That's what I was thinking," said Nicole. "I can lead you to where its containment capsule is at if you'd like."

"You shouldn't mess with any of that professor's toys," said Rouge as she looked over from beside Eggman.

"I don't know why, but part of me believes that having a combat robot around will help us out. After all, my friend Cody's a combat robian by design and he's helped us out a ton," said Tails.

"I'm not gonna stop you squirt, but don't say I didn't warn ya," said Rouge as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Lead on Nicole," said Tails as he took Nicole off the Cyclone. As he stepped out of the shuttle into the ARK's airlock, he saw Sonic and Angel heading towards him.

"Where are you going big guy?" asked Sonic.

"Nicole and I are getting a...souvenir of sorts," said Tails. Sonic cocked an eyebrow.

"A souvenir?" asked Sonic.

"Yeah. I think its something we might need in the future," said Tails.

"Well...alright, but make it quick," said Sonic.

* * *

Back in the cargo hold, Eggman watched as Rouge exited the hold before activating his wrist communicator.

"Snively, are you there?" asked Eggamn.

"Here sir," said Snively.

"As humiliating as this is, I've been arrested by the United Nation. But that'll keep for now. I have a special assignment for you to undertake immediately," said Eggman. He then detailed what he wanted the diminutive human to do.

"Of course, doctor. I will track him down immediately," said Snively.

"Good. Once you find him and secure him, find out where they're keeping me and bust me out," said Eggman.

"Yes...About that," said Snively with a sneer. "I think jail suits you just fine."

"What are you saying?" cried Eggman angrily.

"That you fouled up your attempts at global domination for the last time, uncle! I'm taking command of your empire, as well as your soon to be completed Egg Fleet. _I_ will be the one to bring this world to its feet and create my own utopian empire!" cried Snively.

"You little snot nosed pipsqueak!" yelled Eggman. "You had better pray to whatever god you worship that I do _not_ get out of jail because you are a dead man! Do you hear me!? A _dead_ man!"

"Make your empty threats uncle and enjoy the prison food. You'll be eating it for the rest of your natural life," said Snively before he cut the transmission. Eggman let out as loud of a cry of frustration as he could muster.

August 27, 2323 19:23

"It's great that you decided to stay with us for a while Angel, despite the circumstances," said Sally as she, Sonic, Tails, Comet and Angel walked into the commons of Knothole. Several passerby's gave Angel greetings, the echidna returning them.

"I am so happy you're staying here for a while mistress. I have missed you so much," said Comet as she rode on Angel's shoulder.

"I've missed you a lot too Comet," said Angel with a smile.

"You'll fit right in Angel," said Sonic as he gave her a pat on the back. Sonic then noticed a certain couple walking in their direction. Waving them over, the group waited till both Cody and Lily walked up to them.

"Angel! What a pleasant surprise to see you after all this time," said Lily as she embraced the echidna in a small hug.

"Yes it is," said Cody. "How have you been?"

"Not the greatest at the moment, I'm afraid," said Angel.

"Angel's staying with us a for a while till she can clear her head of the last few days events," said Sonic. A smile crossed Cody's face as he reached out his hand towards Angel.

"Let me be the first to welcome you back to Knothole Village," said Cody. "I know I'm glad you came back. I've been hoping I'd get to see you again some day."

"Thanks Cody," said Angel as she gripped his hand. As they started to shake, Angel gave a sharp gasp and pulled away. "What's the big idea? That hurt." Cody gasped and looked upset at hearing that.

"I'm sorry. I still don't know my own strength at times. I thought with someone as tough as you I could grip a little harder than normal," said Cody.

"Well don't in the future," said Angel with annoyance.

"I won't," said Cody. "How long are you staying with us?"

"I'm only staying for a little while. Hopefully I won't step on any toes while I'm here. I wouldn't want to make any enemies," she said jokingly. Cody's smile came back at that statement.

"I have a feeling you'll make quite a lasting impression on the locals," said Cody. "Now then, let's see about getting you a place to stay." He then started leading Angel further into the village, leaving the rest of her friends behind. Suddenly, a small bluish tinted silver robot ran up to Sonic and the others.

The robot was made entirely out of cobalt. It walked on two legs and had two arms with three thick fingers on its hands. It's head looked akin to a toucan's beak with two beady yellow eyes staring up at them.

"What in the world is this thing?" asked Tails as he walked up to the robot and knelt down next to it.

"Oh that thing," said Lily as she looked at the robot. "It showed up here yesterday. It hasn't caused any problems though. It's just been wandering about the village since it arrived." The robot looked up at Tails and bobbed its head slightly.

"Myr! Myr!" said the robot enthusiastically.

"That's the only word that thing's said since it got here as well, "said Lily.

"It's kinda cute looking," said Tails as he reached a hand out and patted its head gently. The robot pushed into his hand, wanting more of Tails' attention.

"You don't think its one of Eggman's bots, do you?" asked Sonic.

"I honestly don't know, but it seems harmless," said Tails.

"I think it'll be okay Sonic," said Lily. "The thing's just been curious and affectionate. Doesn't seem like something Eggman would program one of his robots to be."

"You're probably right. Alright Tails, you can take care of the thing if you want to," said Sonic.

"He's in good hands," said Tails. He then stood back up and started walking away from the group, waving at the robot to follow him. "Come on little guy." The robot happily started walking after Tails, almost a skip to its step.

"I don't think keeping that thing is wise Sonic," said Sally as she watched the two leave.

"Aw it won't hurt anything to have Tails take care of it. And if it's truly a threat, I can handle something that small no problem," said Sonic.

"I hope you're right. The last thing we need is a killer robot living in the village," said Sally.

"Sal, you worry way too much," said Sonic as the group started walking further into the commons in the direction Angel and Cody had gone.

THE END


End file.
